Cassiterides - The Romans on Dartmoor

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ARTIST BIOS

Mark Beeson (Playwright, Director)is a playwright and anthropologist who grew up on Dartmoor . He read classics at university before switching to human sciences. He has conducted and published research into the history of Dartmoor and its mythology. As a writer he has read his long poem The Blue Monkeys of Zomba on BBC Radio 3, had four verse plays broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and written a book on Dartmoor for the Countryside Commission. He has written over twenty community plays, working extensively with teenagers and in primary schools as a workshop leader and director, and is the founder of MED Theatre, where he is Artistic Director.

Dan Rayner (Playwright, Actor) grew up on Dartmoor and first worked with MED Theatre at playwriting while still at Moretonhampstead Primary School , almost a decade ago. In recent years, he has performed, directed and acted in technical roles for the company. He directed MED Theatre's dance documentary Grave Intimations which was broadcast on BBC 2. A former pupil of South Dartmoor Community College , he is currently an undergraduate, studying drama at the University of Exeter .

Daisy Martinez (Playwright, Actor) has been involved with MED theatre since primary school, as part of both the Wild Nights Young Company and the community shows. She is currently studying AS Performing Arts along with English literature , Philosophy and French at South Dartmoor Community College, and hopes to work in community theatre in the future. She has really enjoyed being able to take part in the writing and rehearsal process of cassiterides, and would like to continue working with MED in future projects.

Laura Wilson (Playwright, Actor) grew up on Dartmoor, and first started work with MED theatre at playwriting whilst at Moretonhampsted Primary School. She then went on to act in many productions. She played a leading role in Connie Smith's small cast play for Med theatre, sisters. Laura has been a member of the wild nights young company from the beginnng and co-wrote and acted in the plays roots and Loricum. She is in her final year of GCSE's at South Dartmoor Community College.

Jess Avis (Composer, Musician) grew up in the Dartmoor area, and like Dan and Laura first worked with MED Theatre at playwriting while at Moretonhampstead Primary School . She took the lead roles in MED Theatre's community plays Whale and The Forest on the Hill . She wrote script for MED Theatre's first young people's play The 82 and was the sole author of MED Theatre's small cast play The Calling , which she also directed and composed music for. She danced in Grave Intimations on BBC 2 and was assistant director of Roots . After completing a degree in drama and music at the University of Birmingham , Jess is now a newsreader for Gemini FM.

Cassiterides - The Romans on Dartmoor

Performances - March 2007

9 March, 7:30pm - Manaton Parish Hall

10 March, 2:00pm- Manaton Parish Hall

14 March, 7:30pm - Carmel Church, Plymouth

16 March, 7:30pm - Moretonhampstead Parish Hall

17 March, 7:30pm - Moretonhampstead, Parish Hall

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Mystery, history, passion and betrayal

The story of Emrys, a local warlord who owns the Dartmoor tin mines, and Gaius, the Roman who governs the area. The tension of their political struggle is heightened by the passionate love affair between their two children, Cynthia and Belarion. Set in a terrain where wolves still prowl the night, Myth and reality intertwine with a struggle for identity in a shifting world.

MED Theatre's ambitious community play Cassiterides: The Romans on Dartmoor was set at the end of empire - the end of the Roman occupation of Britain . The play served as an intriguing exploration of local history, and how it changes over time as new archaeological finds and other resources come to light.

Created entirely by local Dartmoor artists, Cassiterides was performed by a community cast of 35 and featured an original musical score. The play was written by three young people from the Dartmoor area, Dan Rayner, Daisy Martinez , and Laura Wilson, in collaboration with MED Theatre Artistic Director Mark Beeson.

THE HISTORY BEHIND CASSITERIDES

Throughout history until the 20 th century the south western peninsula of Britain was a leading producer of tin for Europe, and Dartmoor 's ore was particularly accessible to the early miners. The Romans came to Britain partly because of its promise of mineral wealth and this play looks at the effect that the mines of the south west must have had on imperial policy in the province. On Dartmoor , one of the abandoned tin workings bears the name of 'the Roman mine'. The Civitas Dumnoniorum, governed from Roman Exeter, stretched into remote upland areas such as Dartmoor , where Romanisation may have been patchy, but still significant. In recent years archaeological finds have overturned the notion held as late at the 1970s that Dartmoor was uninhabited in Roman times, and revealed that the Romans in fact had a considerable presence on the moor, and used its tin.

Cassiterides - The Romans on Dartmoor was made possible with financial support from: The Norman Family Charitable Trust and Pennon Group Plc.