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Brith Gof was a Welsh theatre company started in 1981 by Mike Pearson and Lis Hughes Jones.[1] A "pioneering force" in the development of site-specific theatre,[2][3] Brith Gof performed in locations such as disused factories, working sand quarries, ice hockey stadiums, railway stations and forests.[1] Internationally acknowledged as a leading experimental company,[4] Brith Gof came to be recognised as Wales’ foremost performance group, and presented their work in the United Kingdom as well as Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, France, South America and Hong Kong, before closing in 2004.[1]

History

Mike Pearson initially studied archaeology at University College Cardiff, before beginning his theatrical career at RAT Theatre and Transitions Trust community arts project in 1971.[5] He was the co-director of Cardiff Laboratory Theatre alongside Lis Hughes Jones from 1974-1980.[6] Following their departure from Cardiff Laboratory Theatre, they co-founded Brith Gof in 1981.[1] From the beginning, Brith Gof was focused on "physical performance rather than the dramatic text, and it rarely worked in the conventional theatre with stage, proscenium arch and auditorium."[7] Brith Gof was the resident company at the Barn Centre in Aberystwyth, where they met Clifford McLucas who initially designed physical properties for the company.[8] After McLucas joined the company, Brith Gof would explicitly shift its focus to site-specific theatre,[7] and McLucas would eventually become a joint artistic director alongside Pearson.[1] Other company members included John Hardy, who was the musical director of Brith Gof for 7 years.[9]

Productions

Gododdin

In 1988, Brith Gof presented their "seminal"[10] production of Gododdin at the Rover Car Factory in Cardiff,[11] based on the medieval Welsh poem Y Gododdin:

"Gododdin transformed a disused car factory in Cardiff into a long sandpit with scaffolding towers, cars and a forest of trees. Performed in Welsh and English, with a live soundtrack from the groundbreaking industrial music group Test Dept, Gododdin was inspired by an ancient Welsh poem about a warrior-band of Celts, embarking on a suicidal last battle against invading Anglo-Saxons. Audiences were caught up in the action, with performers leaping in their midst and swinging rubber tyres and steel barrels towards them. The production toured Europe with support from the British Council, adapting to iconic performance sites in different countries.

— Emma Geliot & Cathy Gomez, "What gives theatre in Wales its radical edge?", British Council Theatre and Dance

Gododdin toured to Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Scotland,[12] with the production adapting to new sites each time: for instance, in Polverigi, Italy, the production took place inside of a sand quarry; in Leeuwarden it was staged in an indoor ice-skating rink.[13] Gododdin marked a turning point for the company,[7] and thereafter Brith Gof created a series of large-scale performance occupying "socially and politically charged sites."[11]

Pax

Pax premiered in 1991 and was based on a descent of angels and concerned with the environmental plight of the planet. It was presented at St. David's Hall, Cardiff, the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Glasgow and in the British Rail Station in Aberystwyth.[14] Set in a 'ghost cathedral' of scaffolding, angels fly down to Earth where they struggle to understand the toxic atmosphere humans have created.[15]

https://mshanks.com/2022/06/05/mike-pearson/

https://john-hardy.bandcamp.com/merch/brith-gof-pax-cd

https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA642290920&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=07332033&sw=w&p=LitRC&userGroupName=anon%7Ebbfe0edc&aty=open-web-entry

Hearn

https://web.stanford.edu/~mshanks/MichaelShanks/files/59974.pdf

https://web.stanford.edu/~mshanks/MichaelShanks/94.html

https://web.stanford.edu/~mshanks/MichaelShanks/26.html

https://cyxy.sta.edu.cn/_upload/article/files/41/d0/c9cf9bbd4023888b841e90b0f363/9d5c59a6-e8b9-49a6-969a-fa4e425e7248.pdfMcLucas died of a brain tumor in 2001.[7]

Pearson became an emeritus professor at Aberystwyth University, where he was responsible for designing one of Britain's first degrees in Performance Studies.[2] Pearson died in 2022.[3]


The first production of Peer Gynt was directed by Ludwig Josephson at the Christiania Theatre, with Henrik Klausen in the role of Peer Gynt, Johannes Brun as The Mountain King,[16] and Thora Hansson at Solveig.[17] It was designed by the Christiania Theatre's resident designers, Wilhelm Krogh and Olaf Jørgensen, who were supported by a "corps" of landscape painters to create vivid backdrops.[16] Grieg previously had a working relationship with Bjørn Bjørnson, but his decision to compose music for Ibsen, a rival of Bjørnson's, led to a falling outbetween Grieg and Bjørnson which would last 16 years.[18] Peer Gynt was performed 37 times in its first season, considered an extremely long run given that Christiana's population at the time numbered only 108,000.[19]

  1. ^ a b c d e "Brith Gof (Theatre company) - National Library of Wales Archives and Manuscripts". archives.library.wales. Retrieved 2026-03-28.
  2. ^ a b "What gives theatre in Wales its radical edge?". Theatre and Dance. Archived from the original on 2024-02-16. Retrieved 2026-03-28.
  3. ^ a b Kear, Adrian (2022-06-03). "Mike Pearson obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-03-28.
  4. ^ "Brith Gof". web.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2026-03-28.
  5. ^ Sarah (2022-05-30). "'No heroics, boys!' Friends and collaborators pay tribute to Mike Pearson". Nation.Cymru. Retrieved 2026-03-28.
  6. ^ "Professor Mike Pearson : Development & Alumni Relations , Aberystwyth University". www.aber.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-03-28.
  7. ^ a b c d "A theater company and archaeological theory". web.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2026-03-28.
  8. ^ "McLUCAS, CLIFFORD (1945-2002), artist and theatre director | Dictionary of Welsh Biography". biography.wales. Retrieved 2026-03-28.
  9. ^ Hardy, John E. R. (2016-03-09). "Pax, Gododdin". John E. R. Hardy. Retrieved 2026-04-17.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ a b Kaye, Nick (2000). Site-Specific Art. London: Routledge. p. 52. ISBN 0-415-18558-0.
  12. ^ "Test Dept. : A Short History". www.esophagus.com. Archived from the original on 2008-08-27. Retrieved 2026-03-28.
  13. ^ Sinker, Mark (1989). "Operatic Skinheads". New Statesman & Society. 2 (66): 40.
  14. ^ Kaye, Nick (15 May 1996). Art Into Theatre: Performance Interviews and Documents (1st ed.). Routledge. pp. 209–234. ISBN 978-3718657896.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  15. ^ "Brith Gof - Pax (CD) from John Hardy". John Hardy. Retrieved 2026-04-17.
  16. ^ a b Meyer, Michael (1967). Ibsen. Sutton Publishing Ltd (published 2004). ISBN 978-0750937382.
  17. ^ Næss, Trine (2025-08-12), "Thora Hansson", Norsk biografisk leksikon (in Norwegian), retrieved 2026-04-08
  18. ^ Dahl Jr., Erling (2000). Edvard Grieg - art and identity. Bergen: Edvard Grieg Museum - Troldhaugen. p. 22. ISBN 82-91738-09-2.
  19. ^ van der Poll, Suze (May 2018). "Peer Gynt: Norway's National Play". Reconsidering National Plays in Europe: 155–184 – via ResearchGate.

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