Programme notes
Good cop bad cop present
18:40 20:40 the 10th anniversary remix
excerpt from experimentica 2003 proposal
On July 15th 1993 Das Wunden made their performance debut at chapter arts centre, with an experimental physical performance based on William burroughs unrealised screenplay ‘the last words of dutch schultz’
Chapter programme copy read “using unreliable memory and fractured logic from a life of violence, 18:40 20:40 is the victims inquest into his own demise, one in which truth is less important than coherence’
Ten years on, good cop bad cop – Rowley and Morgan from Das Wunden and Jeff, formally of photographic duo klanger and boink who took the original publicity photos – reopen the case.
The 10th anniversary remix is part archaeology, part autopsy, part history, and part recreation. An examination of the original performance, a performance about performance, a performance about the conditions in which performance is made, endures and/or fades.
This time, coherence is less important than the truth
End of excerpt
Tonight’s performance is very much an experiment.
Devised by Richard huw Morgan, with sonic assistance from matt cook, it takes a past performance as its source material.
Statement by Richard huw Morgan
The spark that brought it to life was finding the following review for Chapter Arts Centre on the Itchy Internet guide to Cardiff.
“Fantastic venue – very under-rated. Fantastic Arts cinema and truly amazing theatre – Brith Gof, Das Wunden, Annie Sprinkle, Ron Athey. Visiting Chapter should be worked into your daily schedule”, Hywel Edward from London
Nice to be share such company.
But it started me thinking.
Apart from appearing as a footnote to the Good Cop Bad Cop entry on the Theatre in Wales website, that was the only reference to the company on the web.
If it weren’t for that quote, we could be forgiven for forgetting we ever existed. Such is the fate of much devised performance. No scripts to publish, some dodgy video footage and a few brief – albeit interesting reviews.
In 1993 the experimental arts scene in Cardiff was flourishing with 5 or 6 major companies producing work. As regular performers with Brith Gof, john and I started Das Wunden as a sideline to work on our own ideas, and funded by our more or less regular income from Brith Gof.
A decade on and the scene is somewhat different, arts funding in Wales has become increasingly conservative, and the opportunity for regular income through experimental performance almost non-existent. Two alternatives – join academia or work outside Wales. Both valuable as choices, but they should remain as choices, not the only options.
I have had a long standing interest in the documentation of performance, and am fortunate enough to be a research fellow in time based practice at UWIC, which is currently allowing me the opportunity to continue earning money from performance.
My particular interest is in ways of transmitting documentation of the live experience of performance over time, without over reliance on the problematic issue of video.
No matter how many camera angles are used to record, and no matter how complex the playback options offered by DVD, video documentation can only ever present a version of an event that never was fixed or certain in its original manifestation.
Tonight’s presentation is an attempt to reincorporate some of the other possibilities that existed ten years ago when the original performance was made, and to reintroduce some elements that fell out of the original, for whatever reasons. Some elements have been kept, – certain lighting states, props, design. Others have been changed, where no written record remains frequently faulty memory has been relied upon.
It was my intention in making this piece that, chance, circumstance and practicalities should play as much a role in the creation as possible. Some of what appears may bear only a tangential relationship with original sources.
And then again, there are questions of experience. Having ten more years under the belt there are certain other choices you make. Such as not continuously falling on your knees for eleven minutes, not drinking an entire bottle of Jack Daniels between two people in the space of three minutes and so on.
Time brings both experience and decay. There are both artifacts and people who informed choices 10 years ago that are no longer present, and they too have informed this work.
Just as the physical performance is a remix of the original performance, so is the soundtrack created by Matt Cook. This is based on the original sound track created by Robert Merdzo. In the true spirit of the creative remixer Matt has thrown away much of the original, and much of what remains is unrecognisable. It includes many new elements of Matt’s own and elements of a new reading of the last words of Dutch Schultz by John Rowley.
John, much to his regret, cannot be here tonight as he is now a regular collaborator with Forced Entertainment and is currently in Sheffield working on their new production. However, it is our intention to work on the material further, together with Paul and Matt, in the near future, funds willing.
So, tonight is an experiment, part of an ongoing research process in the documentation and re-presentation of performance. I prefer not to use the term ‘work in progress’. So, thanks to James, Cathy, and all involved in Experimentica 03, for one night only, Good Cop Bad Cop present 18:40 20:40, the 10th anniversary remix.
Programme notes
Good cop bad cop present
18:40 20:40 the 10th anniversary remix
excerpt from experimentica 2003 proposal
On July 15th 1993 Das Wunden made their performance debut at chapter arts centre, with an experimental physical performance based on William burroughs unrealised screenplay ‘the last words of dutch schultz’
Chapter programme copy read “using unreliable memory and fractured logic from a life of violence, 18:40 20:40 is the victims inquest into his own demise, one in which truth is less important than coherence’
Ten years on, good cop bad cop – Rowley and Morgan from Das Wunden and Jeff, formally of photographic duo klanger and boink who took the original publicity photos – reopen the case.
The 10th anniversary remix is part archaeology, part autopsy, part history, and part recreation. An examination of the original performance, a performance about performance, a performance about the conditions in which performance is made, endures and/or fades.
This time, coherence is less important than the truth
End of excerpt
Tonight’s performance is very much an experiment.
Devised by Richard huw Morgan, with sonic assistance from matt cook, it takes a past performance as its source material.
Statement by Richard huw Morgan
The spark that brought it to life was finding the following review for Chapter Arts Centre on the Itchy Internet guide to Cardiff.
“Fantastic venue – very under-rated. Fantastic Arts cinema and truly amazing theatre – Brith Gof, Das Wunden, Annie Sprinkle, Ron Athey. Visiting Chapter should be worked into your daily schedule”, Hywel Edward from London
Nice to be share such company.
But it started me thinking.
Apart from appearing as a footnote to the Good Cop Bad Cop entry on the Theatre in Wales website, that was the only reference to the company on the web.
If it weren’t for that quote, we could be forgiven for forgetting we ever existed. Such is the fate of much devised performance. No scripts to publish, some dodgy video footage and a few brief – albeit interesting reviews.
In 1993 the experimental arts scene in Cardiff was flourishing with 5 or 6 major companies producing work. As regular performers with Brith Gof, john and I started Das Wunden as a sideline to work on our own ideas, and funded by our more or less regular income from Brith Gof.
A decade on and the scene is somewhat different, arts funding in Wales has become increasingly conservative, and the opportunity for regular income through experimental performance almost non-existent. Two alternatives – join academia or work outside Wales. Both valuable as choices, but they should remain as choices, not the only options.
I have had a long standing interest in the documentation of performance, and am fortunate enough to be a research fellow in time based practice at UWIC, which is currently allowing me the opportunity to continue earning money from performance.
My particular interest is in ways of transmitting documentation of the live experience of performance over time, without over reliance on the problematic issue of video.
No matter how many camera angles are used to record, and no matter how complex the playback options offered by DVD, video documentation can only ever present a version of an event that never was fixed or certain in its original manifestation.
Tonight’s presentation is an attempt to reincorporate some of the other possibilities that existed ten years ago when the original performance was made, and to reintroduce some elements that fell out of the original, for whatever reasons. Some elements have been kept, – certain lighting states, props, design. Others have been changed, where no written record remains frequently faulty memory has been relied upon.
It was my intention in making this piece that, chance, circumstance and practicalities should play as much a role in the creation as possible. Some of what appears may bear only a tangential relationship with original sources.
And then again, there are questions of experience. Having ten more years under the belt there are certain other choices you make. Such as not continuously falling on your knees for eleven minutes, not drinking an entire bottle of Jack Daniels between two people in the space of three minutes and so on.
Time brings both experience and decay. There are both artifacts and people who informed choices 10 years ago that are no longer present, and they too have informed this work.
Just as the physical performance is a remix of the original performance, so is the soundtrack created by Matt Cook. This is based on the original sound track created by Robert Merdzo. In the true spirit of the creative remixer Matt has thrown away much of the original, and much of what remains is unrecognisable. It includes many new elements of Matt’s own and elements of a new reading of the last words of Dutch Schultz by John Rowley.
John, much to his regret, cannot be here tonight as he is now a regular collaborator with Forced Entertainment and is currently in Sheffield working on their new production. However, it is our intention to work on the material further, together with Paul and Matt, in the near future, funds willing.
So, tonight is an experiment, part of an ongoing research process in the documentation and re-presentation of performance. I prefer not to use the term ‘work in progress’. So, thanks to James, Cathy, and all involved in Experimentica 03, for one night only, Good Cop Bad Cop present 18:40 20:40, the 10th anniversary remix.
good cop bad cop 