MED Theatre is a community organisation that creates work with and for the rurally isolated residents of Dartmoor National Park and surrounding Devon, and although the COVID-19 pandemic means that some of our work has had to be adapted, we continue to offer creative opportunities through our online presence, and now once again through live work outdoors and more recently indoors..
Please see below to find out how all of our current projects are being affected by the pandemic and our intentions for continuing despite the challenges being faced.
If you or a family member would like any more information about how you can get involved in one of these projects from your own home, please contact MED Theatre’s Education Officer, Helen, via email at helengilbert@medtheatre.co.uk.
In an effort to preserve precious heritage, in the form of the memories and first-hand experiences of the local wartime generation, this project offers the opportunity for younger members of the rural Devon communities to carry out research and oral history interviews that can be used in the making of various creative outputs.
In order to keep the project going during this period, the MED Theatre education team continued to meet, via online chat, with our young company members. The young company have now completed a script – ‘The Hardings – a wartime story’ which they were beginning to rehearse live but that will now be adapted into a radio play.
Meanwhile, the MED Theatre team has also been touring ‘Devon’s War Girls’, a short play which follows the stories of two young women living in Devon during WW2.
Inspired By… is a new online arts platform created especially for the period of lockdown that sought to keep creativity alive and accessible to those feeling isolated.
MED Theatre released a range of Dartmoor and Devon themed stories, images, music and film to kick start your own creativity and be Inspired By…
Have a watch of our promotional video for Inspired By… or click the link below to see what else was shared!
‘Moor Voices’, supported by Arts Council England, culminated in outdoor performances on both Dartmoor and Exmoor of ‘Daughters of Sunset’, a play which deals with the possibility of matriarchal societies in the Bronze Age, suggested by the mythology associated with marine mammals.
The project involved community cast members, emerging artists and professional practitioners who helped to deliver the project alongside the MED Theatre team.
Prior to the lockdown, MED Theatre were fortunate enough to have visited many schools across Exmoor and Dartmoor with the ‘Moor Voices’ Bronze Age workshops, reaching over 600 young people in total.
Despite the current situation, rehearsals for our production of ‘Daughters of Sunset’ took place in the beautiful outdoor setting of Bridford Amphitheatre, and we have loved having our community members back with us!
For more information regarding Moor Voices click the link below or contact us at info@medtheatre.co.uk
For more than 35 years, MED Theatre have been producing original drama to be performed by community members and toured around Dartmoor and Devon.
MED Theatre’s 2020 community play ‘The Murder of Nicholas Radford’ explored the motivations behind one of the most notorious private murders of the 15th century, which contributed to the start of the Wars of the Roses, and may have had its origins in a Dartmoor tin-mining dispute.
Due to the global pandemic of COVID-19, MED Theatre was sadly given no choice but to cancel three out of the five performances of this community play.
HOWEVER, we were able to deliver two performances which were recorded and can be viewed at request. Please email Helen for more information – helengilbert@medtheatre.co.uk
We would like to thank our Members and Friends during this time, and Arts Council England, The National Lottery and their players and Dartmoor National Park for their extra support.
