WHO ARE YOU LOOKING AT?: Pearson/Brookes Workshop in Exeter 8 March
On 8th March Mike Pearson and Mike Brookes will conduct the second of our Presence workshops in Drama's newly opened Alexander Building at Exeter.
Pearson/Brookes/Thomas:who are you looking at?
Since 1997, Mike Pearson and Mike Brookes have created a series of
productions that proposed new strategies within the form, function and
placement of performance in work employing a variety of media, from radio broadcast to
surveillance CCTV.
In this workshop, which includes audio and video material
from several of their recent multi-site works, they examine the implications
of these strategies for notions of presence and absence, for both performers
and spectators alike. They reflect upon their working practices, new forms
of dramaturgy, the shifting role of audience, reorientations in the
technique of the performer, and questions of documentation. Pearson and
Brookes will show previously little seen material including graphic
representations of their performance scenarios, footage from projects in
Germany and west Wales, and the experimental DVD-ROM of their performance
work Carrying Lyn. The presentation will be informal, with an opportunity
for discussion.
Pearson/Brookes/Thomas:who are you looking at?
Pearson and Brookes have worked together since 1997. In 2002 they began a
long-term though irregular relationship with Welsh playwright Ed Thomas.
Their regular performer/collaborators include John Rowley, now working with
Forced Entertainment, and Richard Morgan and Paul Jeff of Good Cop Bad Cop.
Pearson/Brookes: polis
Mike Pearson is Professor of Performance Studies in the Department of
Theatre, Film and Television Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth. He
was a director of Cardiff Laboratory Theatre (1973-80) and Brith Gof
(1981-97). His main interests are in devised performance and site specific
work. He is the author with Michael Shanks of Theatre/Archaeology (2001,
Routledge), and of ŒIn Comes I¹: Performance, Location and Landscape
(University of Exeter Press, forthcoming)
Pearson/Brookes: polis
Mike Brookes is an artist and designer, working primarily as a painter and
performance maker. His design work has engaged both graphic and time-based
media; and his collaborations with performance companies such as Brith Gof,
The Magdalena Project, Earthfall, and Quarantine, have resulted in a wide
spread reputation for his activities as a lighting and production designer.
Audience places at the workshop are free of charge and can be reserved by contacting Linda Dowsett at l.m.dowsett@exeter.ac.uk
Further information on work by Mike Pearson and Mike Brookes is available through the Performing Presence Collaboratory here http://presence.stanford.edu:3455/Collaboratory/343 and in our earlier weblog entry at http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/presence/2005/11/pearsonbrookes_presence_worksh.html
Mike Brookes' website is at http://www.mikebrookes.com/
Images from who are you looking at? Pearson/Brookes/Thomas.
Images of polis Gerald Tyler.
Images courtesy Mike Brookes.
Future presence workshops at Exeter will be conducted by:
Vayu Naidu: 22 March
Phillip Zarrilli and Klaus Seewald: 10 May
Fiona Templeton: 24 May
Bella Merlin: 21 June
