What do we do?

The Salmon

The company has grown out of a tradition of putting on original community plays which involve large numbers of people of all ages from the area. Productions involve people from the community as performers as well as backstage, and alongside them, MED Theatre employs local artists to write plays, compose music, design sets and costumes, and choreograph movement. The plays are inspired by the area's industrial history, striking topography and distinctive ecology as well as contemporary social challenges faced by human residents of a national park. At the same time as providing entertainment to audiences (made up of both local residents and visitors), the plays dramatise serious social, scientific and environmental issues which are relevant to Dartmoor and which aim to promote the area's distinctiveness through its culture and its people.

History of Dartmoor Theatre Exhibition

Since its early days, MED Theatre has been involved in much more than simply putting on an annual community production. Workshops are a vital part of the process of preparing for MED Theatre's production, but are equally valuable to those who wish to learn new skills. We aim to provide opportunities in training and education as well as performance, and run workshops in drama and movement, set-painting, mask-making, music and playwriting for participants of different ages. We have also carried out research into the history of theatre on Dartmoor and put on an exhibition to display our discoveries, as part of our developing vision of what community theatre can offer to an area.

Primary school playwriting

MED Theatre has put a lot of energy into working with young people, and has a long-standing relationship with local schools - it's during their school years that children's interest in drama and storytelling is made for life. Playwriting workshops with primary school children have been part of the MED Theatre programme almost since the company began...

Widecombe primary school play, Gantigot

...with the children writing plays in teams, as well as acting in the culminating workshop productions of their original creations in front of their school...

Set-painting workshop

...and young people in secondary schools have recently been encouraged to create a significant proportion of our work. In a remote rural area where there is often little provision for young people, MED Theatre provides exciting opportunities to learn and develop new skills for life. We have a policy of extending access and have recently commissioned research on including young people with special needs and disabilities.

 Click here for more information on

MED's Education Programmes