After four impactful days, Experimentica 2024 at Cardiff’s Chapter Arts Centre comes to an end – and on its final day, I developed my own ongoing practice, creating a piece I’m proud of. After which, Good Cop Bad Cop ended the festival with aplomb, in a way only they could.
JAMES ELLIS: *IN THIS HOUSE WE WORK ALL DAY*
A response to Experimentica, on its last day. This year’s festival, and its theme ‘Call To Spring’ was for me a journey with a branch of an Oriental pear tree, which recently died in the garden. The tree was slightly older than me; I have wondered what killed it. If a tree has a soul, then what does it say?
Dragged down the road, taken on a train (I got on board with little trouble) and then escorted for a few miles to Chapter Arts Centre. It was great fun taking the branch around Cardiff and its resting at the venue. The garden can be hard graft and the efforts into it are highly rewarding; even with my own abilities I trudged through. The cleanup of the tree itself, meanwhile, is ongoing.
Dedicated to Mike Pearson, 1949-2022
GOOD COP BAD COP: MINCE
A rare post-COVID outing for this iconic duo of John Rowley and Richard Huw Morgan, who have long been the Welsh capital’s go-to performance artists. Since the 1990s they have made massive amounts of theatre: in MINCE, their latest, mythologies meet the mundane.
The air reeked with the stench of wild garlic within Morgan’s shoes. He gave a select few audience members what appeared to be mints, as if at communion, and bashed his torso against a wall. Rowley gave a deadpan delivery – through a tiny speaker and from a simplistic script – about what an audience might find going to a show. He cried extensively for one phase, and got to wear his beloved monkey man suit. Our phones were made contraband before entering: in place of photos, a sketch artist caught us and the duo in scribbly poses.
Morgan is a Welsh speaker, and makes use of this bilingual framework. A lot of performance art is so serious, but these two are a breath of fresh air with their wit, surreal imagery and relationship with the spectators. Memories of shows past also linger – the loss of friend Mike Pearson, another titan of Welsh theatre and live art haunts the space.
A cascade of fun, movement, smells, connection, video, noise, fancy dress and nudity: in other words, a fine way to wrap up Experimentica for the year. I cannot wait for what’s next.
Experimentica, Chapter Arts Centre, Sun 14 Apr
words JAMES ELLIS photos ANEURIN WILLIS
