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Registered charity number 1119302
What do we do?
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The Salmon
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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.
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History of Dartmoor Theatre Exhibition
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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.
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Primary school playwriting
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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...
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Widecombe primary school play, Gantigot
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...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...
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Set-painting workshop
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...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
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