So kind of you to come...

Madame Coco and the Living Picture.

Tableau Vivant? It is French for Living Picture. In the 18th century it became apparent that historical paintings combined with theatrical performance created the most elegant, social entertainment of that period. It was a clever and beautiful thing, to place together two types of artistic forms. Two forms, performance and art, and they worked so spectacularly well.

Madame Coco's fascination lies in the bringing together of the two art forms, mixing the artist's chosen style and the performance. Many Artists have done this and succeeded, such as David Hockney's 'A Rake's Progress' (Image A.) The idea of actors being in and around objects which look as though they have been picked out of a sketchbook, blown up to life size and placed on a stage is simply beautiful.

Below (Image B.) is a still of Madam Coco's first Set Design, for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Everything was to look like a giant sketch or etching. Costume and Make-up was to blend into the set, creating her very own, first, Tableau Vivant.

Image A.

(Madam Coco's favourite Set Design to date.)

Image B.