Med Theatre

MED Theatre News

Performance opportunities for adults or teenagers

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NEW DRAMA CLUB

for 5-7 year olds

MED Theatre is piloting a new drama club for five to seven year olds! This is now fully booked, but we are happy to put you on the waiting list! Contact Sarah Vigars on 01647 441356 email sarahvigars@medtheatre.co.uk

IN THE SHADOW OF THE VIKINGS

MED Theatre's new Dartmoor community play for 2013

New research suggests that Dartmoor was used by the Anglo-Saxons as summer pasture where girls took their cattle up from the manors of surrounding Devon to make butter. Meanwhile the threat of the Viking raiders came and went, and finally came again with a vengeance in the form of the sack of Tavistock Abbey in 997, followed by total conquest. The contrast between this idyllic summer activity and the grim reality of living under the threat of invasion forms the basis of MED Theatre’s new community play In the Shadow of the Vikings .

Following the story of Aelfthryth who was born at Lydford - the only Dartmoor girl to become Queen of England - the play charts the politics of the time from the point of view of the house of Devon, creating a vivid and moving account of the end of the Anglo-Saxon era.

We would like to thank our local business sponsors who supported In the Shadow of the Vikings:

The Cheese Shed

Bovey Castle

Helpful Holidays

DARTFEST 2012 - a Dartmoor festival of young people's playwriting

Dartfest 2012 was a dramatic collection of five short plays which was performed over two evenings at Moretonhampstead Parish Hall, exploring themes of water, the Dartmoor environment and much more through the startlingly sharp and tor-moulded eyes of Dartmoor's teenagers.

The plays were written, directed and performed by the young people themselves.

For more information click here.

Adder - outdoor performances in

Moretonhampstead Sentry and Lustleigh Orchard

Adder was a new dance-theatre outdoor performance developed by MED Theatre, interweaving the ecology and folklore of the controversial animal into a poetic melange of storytelling, movement and music in September 2012.

Click here to read press release

Adder photos

Click here to learn about Moorland Haunts - Obsession and Future Past

Catchment

has now finished its run, but you can catch the performance on video.

Contact MED Theatre to buy or view the DVD.

New play links Victorian wife-selling on Dartmoor to Baring-Gould

MED Theatre performed The Rib on Nov 19th 2011, a brand new black-comedy play written by playwright Vanessa McCartney especially for the company.

The performance was sold out.

The small cast of seven actors brought to life the darkly humorous story, inspired by research into the early writings of the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould, documenting wife-selling on Dartmoor in Victorian times.

JOHN FORD ON DARTMOOR

click here for more details

John Ford Research Pages

The performance of John Ford's Story took place in the dramatic setting of Buckland Abbey's barn on Saturday September 24th. It opened with a colourful and lively Elizabethan style fair involving plate spinning, scarf juggling, dance and balancing acts, accompanied by musicians such as Wren Music's Roots A Cappella group and MED Theatre young people.

The play about the life and works of Dartmoor's very own 17th century playwright then took the stage introduced by a film, set in the 1920s. All elements of the production were created by the talented 13-19 year olds, from the writing of the script, the shooting of the film, the making of the masks, the choreographing of the dance, the composing and playing of the music, the lighting operation, to the acting and direction of the production.

The young cast performed the play for a final time in the attractive setting of Burrator Reservoir, very relevant to the local heritage as the ruins of the house of one of the characters in the play, John Elford of Sheepstor, provided a dramatic backdrop. Congratulations to Wild Nights Young Company for producing what was labelled a "polished and professional" performance.

Read press release

New Life in Trees

a family learning workshop from MED Theatre,

part of the National Trust's Full Bloom Festival

Afternoon of Sunday 8th May 2011

Orchard at Parke, Bovey Tracey

MED Theatre carried out the third workshop in their Trees series on Sunday 8th May as part of the National Trust's Full Bloom Festival that took place at Parke in Bovey Tracey. Drama exercises and games were used to explore a story about an orchard from greek mythology, which was vividly brought life as the workshop was taking place in the setting the National Trust orchard. Family participants learnt about and discussed how and why trees are important to us ecologically and personally.

Look out for our next tree workshop later on this year!

Thanks to the Co-Operative for their support

COMMUNITY PLAY 2011:

'NO ACCESS'

'No Access', MED Theatre's community play 2011,

was performed six times in March.

A contemporary comedy about conflict over land-use on Dartmoor, it was story about a rural community who have differing reactions when the nature of an area of land, which is important to each of them in a variety of ways, changes. The play invited the communities on and around Dartmoor to explore their emotional connections to locations

and how important 'place' can be in our lives.

To find out about MED Theatre's upcoming events and productions, click on the DIARY page or read our latest NEWSLETTER.

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