Fonds GB 0210 BRIGOF - Brith Gof Archive,

Identity area

Reference code

GB 0210 BRIGOF

Title

Brith Gof Archive,

Date(s)

  • [1974]-[2007] / (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

56 large boxes, 11 small boxes, 15 outsize folders, 8 rolls, 5 outsize bundles, 2 outsize envelopes, 1 item and 1 outsize volume; 8 large crates end of November 2012; 1.723 cubic metres.

Context area

Name of creator

Administrative history

Brith Gof was founded in 1981 by Mike Pearson and Lis Hughes Jones, following their departure from Cardiff Laboratory Theatre. Initially they were based in Aberystwyth and were resident in the Barn Centre throughout the 1980s. In [?1987] they relocated to Cardiff but returned to West Wales in 1994 to the University of Lampeter. Whilst at the Barn Centre they met the artist Clifford McLucas who began to design elements for their performances. He eventually became a full time member of the artistic team and he and Mike Pearson became joint artistic directors of the company. Brith Gof’s work in the beginning was influenced by Welsh traditions such as music and song, poetry, oratory and preaching and they developed a performance style that mixed speech and song, soliloquy and physical action. Productions were almost always created as a hybrid of four elements – physical actions, scenography, text and music. Their work also became increasingly political, drawing on aspects of Welsh history and also experiences of cultural and economic decline. Although the company created formal indoor and street performances, increasingly they concentrated on creating events for special occasions and locations and created work for non-theatrical spaces such as barns, chapels, cattle markets and farms. A further development was to build their own staging units so that a performance could be staged at any venue bringing with it its own floor, seating or lighting. The company created a variety of small, medium and eventually large scale site-specific work and in 1988, in collaboration with the industrial music group Test Dept., their first large scale site-specific production, Gododdin, was created. After this the company concentrated on pioneering site-specific performances and two more large-scale site-specific productions followed, namely Pax (1989-1991) and Haearn (1992). Over the years the company performed in a variety of unusual locations such as disused factories, working sand quarries, ice hockey stadiums, railway stations and forests and their work was staged in various locations around the world including Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, France, South America and Hong Kong. They collaborated with a number of foreign companies including Osmego Dnia (Poland), Farfa (Denmark), Theaterlabor (Germany), Grenland Friteater (Norway), La Fura Dels Baus (Spain) and Sand and Bricks (Hong Kong). Brith Gof came to be recognised as Wales’ leading performance group, setting the standards for site-specific practice in Britain and Europe. Brith Gof was also committed to pedagogical activities. The company held training and educational projects for students and also workshops, demonstrations and training programmes for wider groups of Welsh practitioners and joint projects with other Welsh and foreign groups. The company also tried to reach a wider audience through the production of television programmes. In 2004 the company was closed.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Ms Margaret Ames; Llanilar; Donation; 2003-2006; 0200301637.

Lis Hughes Jones per Mike Pearson; Aberystwyth; Donation; November 2012

Giles Parbery per Mike Pearson; Aberystwyth; Donation; October 2012

Centre for Performance Research per Amy Staniforth; Aberystwyth; Donation; August 2012

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Papers of Brith Gof, including correspondence, papers and photographs relating to the company’s site specific and theatre productions, projects, and television productions; together with administrative papers relating to company productions and company business and information papers; and general papers relating to the company and its work, site specific theatre and theatre in Wales. A further consignment of 8 crates Brith Gof's administrative papers were received from Mike Pearson, November 2012. This group remains uncatalogued.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Action: Duplicates have been removed. All records donated to the National Library of Wales have been retained..

Accruals

Accruals are possible.

System of arrangement

Arranged at NLW into four groups: site specific and theatre productions and projects; television productions; administrative papers; and general papers.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Readers consulting modern papers in the National Library of Wales are required to abide by the conditions set out in information provided when applying for their Readers' Tickets, whereby the reader shall become responsible for compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 in relation to any processing by them of personal data obtained from modern records held at the Library.

Conditions governing reproduction

Usual copyright laws apply.

Language of material

  • English
  • Welsh

Script of material

Language and script notes

English and Welsh with some other languages (see appropriate level description).

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

See also the Clifford McLucas Archive for related papers.

Related descriptions

Notes area

Note

Title supplied from contents of fonds.

Note

Audio-visual and video material has been transferred to the National Screen and Sound Archive Wales and digital and electronic material has been separated and are awaiting cataloguing.

Note

Also 1 file of photographs received November 2012.

Alternative identifier(s)

Virtua system control number

vtls004285452

GEAC system control number

(WlAbNL)0000285452

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales

Rules and/or conventions used

Description follows NLW guidelines based on ISAD(G) 2nd ed.; AACR2; and LCSH

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

September 2012.

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

Sources

Archivist's note

Compiled by Nia Wyn Dafydd. The following sources were used in the compilation of this description: NLW: Brith Gof Archive and NLW: Clifford McLucas Archive;

Accession area

Related people and organizations

Related genres

Related places

Physical storage

  • Text: Brith Gof Archive.