High Plateau was an original dance drama performed by a small cast of young people aged 16 – 25. It was inspired by Mark Beeson’s long poem ‘The Blue Monkeys of Zomba Plateau’, broadcast on Radio 3 in the spring and summer of 1999. The production was a collaboration between playwright Mark Beeson, choreographer Rosalyn Maynard and composer Gillian Webster.
For the High Plateau Dance Drama production (2006) please click the below link.
Based on Beeson’s diaries, ‘The Blue Monkeys of Zomba Plateau’ charted his experience as a young British primatologist living on a mountain in central Africa studying an endangered population of Blue Monkeys. In 2006 Mark revisited the Afro-montane forest where he carried out his work 25 years before, leading to the production of ‘High Plateau’ back home on Dartmoor.
In 2011 MED Theatre created a documentary chronicling the creation of ‘High Plateau’, from Africa to Dartmoor.
