just a little bit of history repeating' was commissioned by Chapter, Cardiff; to be produced over a month long residency; and marked the beginning of a re-address by Pearson and Brookes to the intentions and possibilities of their studio based practice. It also introduced the notion of '[ et al ]' as an ad-hoc grouping of the performers who have helped to shape Welsh performance over the past thirty years, and a reassertion of traditions of experimental performance practice in Wales.
The resulting work took the form of a performed text and ensemble work developed live across the trilogy of three distinct versions within the structure and context of a specifically defined conceptual, formal and technical construct and performed back to back as a single work.
In version 1 Mike Pearson performed a monologue constructed from extracts of texts and lyrics from his life and works over the last thirty years, among an informally gathered audience, and accompanied by live improvised music. The voice and music being mixed live and recorded, while a third performer records informal details of Pearson's gestures and performance to video via a hand held camera.
In version 2 the recorded material is instantly reintroduced into the body of the room; re-emphasised and reinterpreted through Brookes' live manipulation; while three performers, working from scripts and the playback of Pearson's original, readdress the text as a trio and are in turn recorded; the musician develops the musical ambient through the improvised addition of a second instrument; and Pearson develops the physicality of his performance, in response to the footage of his original gestures, and is again re-filmed.
For version 3 the resulting complex sound and video recordings are again instantly reintroduced; again re-emphasised and reinterpreted; and are again re-addressed and developed through improvised physical work, vocal re-emphasis, and the addition of electronic samples created within the previous versions, by a full ensemble of eight performers and a number of members of the audience.
just a little bit of history repeating was initially developed and presented with help of Eddy Ladd, John Rowley, Siān Thomas, John E R Hardy, Richard Morgan, Teresa Dillon and Gerald Tyler.
* for further related material please try the informal archive developing behind the chronologies of recent projects at .../shame
© Pearson/Brookes