SHERDS: Five Verses on Six Sacks of Earth
Performance with musicians, vocalists and sound-emitting sculptures, live projection, 70 minutes
I know small things. I let time go slow. Preserving a record – wearing it – bent bodied.
SHERDS, 2020, Nottingham Contemporary
This performance was made possible by a collaboration between a unique ensemble of musicians and artists, who each bring their own techniques and approaches to the piece. Sherds is produced and performed by Nastassja Simensky and Rebecca Lee with Bobby Cotterill, Sophie Cooper, Alison Cooper, Kelly Jayne Jones, Caroline Trutz. Five Verses on Six Sacks of Earth is a micro-opera in five parts made in response to 17th Century material culture and an archaeological dig at Malkin Tower Farm, Pendle in 2018.
Writing and libretto: Nastassja Simensky and Rebecca Lee
Composition: Rebecca Lee
Set and Costume: Nastassja Simensky
Lighting design and engineer: Seth Rook Williams
Sound engineer: Jim Brouwer
Stage manager: Sophia Simensky
Editorial consultancy: Maria Fusco
Composition consultancy: Mark Dennis
Choreography consultancy: Simone Kenyon
Pattern cutter: Karen Harrigan
Print and dye technician: David Hurst
Graphic design: Joseph Lilley (The Holodeck)
Press and marketing: Emily Sherwood
Photography: Reece Straw
In summer 2018, Nastassja Simensky and Rebecca Lee were commissioned by In-Situ and Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership to be artists-in-residence on an archaeological dig at Malkin Tower farm. The resulting ‘micro-opera’ was shared locally in performances across Pendle.
2019 phase of development supported by:
Arts Council England, Jerwood Arts, Sound and Music and In-situ
Special thanks to:
Everyone at In-Situ, Cathy Hopley and all at Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership, Dr Rick Peterson, UCLAN, Danielle Knights, Catherine Reardon and the other archaeologists who contributed to our work on the dig, Rachel & Andrew Turner at Malkin Tower Farm, John Clayton, Sue at Clarion House, Bernie Velvick, Rebecca Atherton, Sarah Yaseed, Mark Dennis, Matthew Jamieson for carpentry and inlay, David Hurst, Cedric Fauq at Nottingham Contemporary, Dr Katy Soar, Angharad at Sound and Music and Hugh Nicholson.