At a time when theatres are dark, the streets are empty and our connection to others is limited, MED Theatre would like to invite you to take part in Inspired By…
Inspired By… is an online arts platform created especially for the period of lockdown and the following months. It seeks to keep creativity alive and accessible to those feeling isolated.
MED Theatre will be releasing 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 scroll down to look at the various projects you can take inspiration from!
Love,
The MED Team
We invite you send in your responses via email to
helengilbert@medtheatre.c
We are very excited to share with you all our Inspired By… Moor Voices mini-series!
Moor Voices is an Arts Council England funded project exploring Bronze Age Devon through the medium of the arts. The project will culminate in an outdoor performance in September, with performances taking place on Dartmoor and Exmoor.
The special edition Inspired By videos below will explore the themes, archaeological backdrop and myths that have all contributed in some way to the creation of ‘Daughters of Sunset’, our Moor Voices production.
Here are some MED Theatre team members retelling the myths and legends that appear in the play, the video includes images that you can download to colour in yourself at home!
Keep watching to the end for the creative tasks, we’d love to see anything that you are inspired to create and you can share it with us by sending it to helengilbert@medtheatre.co.uk
Keep watching to the end for the creative tasks, we’d love to see anything that you are inspired to create and you can share it with us by sending it to helengilbert@medtheatre.co.uk
Here it is… The second episode of our Inspired By… Moor Voices mini-series!
This video features information about the archaeological discoveries and Bronze Age monuments that make Exmoor and Dartmoor National Parks so important to our understanding in our understanding of the past.
Keep watching to the end for the creative tasks, we’d love to see anything that you are inspired to create and you can share it with us by sending it to helengilbert@medtheatre.co.uk
There are creative tasks at the end, we’d love to see anything you create! Send it to helengilbert@medtheatre.co.uk
Listen and read along to our ‘Fog over Hameldown and Chinkwell’ verse. This is just one example of MED Theatre’s many original monologues that personify or give a voice to the elements and animals of Dartmoor. Have you ever been lost in the fog? Have you ever noticed how different the landscape can look through the curtain of it? Listen carefully to the imagery and be Inspired By… Fog.
This video features a slowed down version of ‘Passionate Darkness’ by Safi Joscelyne accompanied by Jonny Hibbs – you might remember the original from another Inspired By… video (scroll down to find it!)
This week’s Inspired By… video features a local legend close to MED Theatre’s hearts!
The legend of Kitty Jay has featured in a lot of our work over the years and here we have Abby, our Education Manager, sharing the story with you from the grave of Kitty Jay itself.
This video also features extracts from our 2004 Dance Documentary, ‘Grave Intimations’, with music by Abi Kingsley-Parker and videography by Phil Gurr and Joffy Hall.
For more information regarding Kitty Jay and the various projects through which MED Theatre have shared her story, you can visit our Dartmoor Resource website and type ‘Kitty Jay’ into the search bar.
Please be advised that this story does contain some sensitive subject matter and parents might wish to watch the video before sharing it with their children.
Keep watching to the end for the creative tasks and send anything you work on to helengilbert@medtheatre.co.uk
Here’s our latest Inspired By… creative mini-project for you all…
It’s a delight for us to once again be able to share the work of our youngest group, Rising Lights (5-7s) as part of our Inspired By… platform.
Here they are telling you one of their favourite stories – Knowles the Weaver. They have even drawn pictures for you to help you follow along!
There are creative DRAWING tasks at the end of the video, and we’d love to see what you can come up with. Please send any drawings to helengilbert@medtheatre.co.uk
It is our pleasure to share with you Episode 4 of our Wild Nights Young Company Podcast, which has been created as part of our Dartmoor, Devon and World War Two project.
This podcast episode was recorded remotely from the homes of our young company during lockdown, and explains the process of writing a play collaboratively without being able to meet in person. You can hear more podcast episodes here: https://medtheatre.podbean.com/
Watch and be Inspired By… our podcast
We are re-visiting our 2012 Dance-Drama performance of Adder. Did you know that the adder is Britain’s only venomous snake? And as such has always been regarded with a degree of fear and awe, which in turn has produced a wealth of folklore, not least on Dartmoor.
With original music by Gillian Webster and Choreography from Rosalyn Maynard.
As children and young people slowly return to school, we’re thinking about new and exciting ways of bringing creativity to you over the summer. For now our Inspired By posts will be going out once a week to give us time to think about what the next steps could be for the summer holidays.
If you have any ideas of what we could do please drop us an email.
Send in any creative responses to this video to helengilbert@medtheatre.co.uk
We are thrilled to share with you a piece of original music from our most recent community play The Murder of Nicholas Radford. Composed by Gillian Webster. Sadly due to COVID-19 we had to cancel the latter of our performances. But we are glad that it can have another life through Inspired By…
Listen and be Inspired By…The Murder of Nicholas Radford
Creative tasks are at the end of the video and will be posted on our Instagram and Twitter
Send in your creative responses to helengilbert@medtheatre.co.uk
Send your responses to helengilbert@medtheatre.co.uk
We’re delving into our photographic past and asking you to get creative with the stories that some of these images might tell.
All photos have been taken by Jenny Steer and are accompanied by original music from our production of Brown Hare created by Gillian Webster, Harry Avis and Amy Young.
All the creative tasks are at the end of the video and will be posted later on our Instagram and Twitter.
We are delighted to share with you some scenes from one of our young peoples plays written by Gwen and Kitty. This short play originally was performed as part of Dartmoor Rivers. An evening of new writing and composition by young people, inspired by the rivers of Dartmoor. The performances explored life on Dartmoor combining the imaginary with themes of loneliness, friendship, betrayal and suspicion.
Watch and be Inspired By…Balaena porrum
The creative tasks are at the end of the video and will be posted on our Instagram and Twitter pages as well.
Send in responses to helengilbert@medtheatre.co.uk
Watch and be Inspired By… The Myth of the Selchie
As always we love seeing your creative responses, send them into helengilbert@medtheatre.co.uk
We’re really excited about this week’s Inspired By… It’s definitely one to get you and your kids away from screens and engaging their imaginations!
This footage was taken from a dance workshop in February of this year and is part of our Arts Council England funded project Moor Voices. With original music composed by Gillian Webster and Trefor Farrow.
It is said that at night seals shed their skin and turn into women dancing in the light of the moon on the shore.
The creative tasks are at the end of the video and will be posted on our Instagram and Twitter as well.
Send your responses to helengilbert@medtheatre.co.uk
We’re taking you back to the Bronze Age with this Inspired By…! Imagine Dartmoor and Devon nearly 4000 years ago.
From 2015-2019 MED Theatre have produced an outdoor promenade performance in Bellever Forest as part of the Moor than meets the eye Landscape Partnership scheme. The story told is inspired by the archeological finds at the Whitehorse Hill cist near Postbridge.
The creative tasks for this week are at the end of the video and will post posted on our Instagram and Twitter as well.
For this Inspired By… we travel back into the 13th century to meet Walter Branscombe, the Bishop of Exeter from 1258 to 1280. Read by our Artistic Director Mark Beeson and with original music from Gillian Webster.
Listen and be Inspired By… The Temptation of Bishop Branscombe.
The creative tasks for this week are at the end of the video and will be posted on our Instagram and Twitter.
Send in responses to florrietaylor@medtheatre.co.uk
This video forms part of the work we are doing for our National Lottery Heritage Funded Dartmoor, Devon and World War II project.
Send your responses to florrietaylor@medtheatre.co.uk
Here we have an animation made by Chagford Primary School, with the help of Tanya Morel and Clare Saunders and music composed by Abigail Kingsley-Parker.
Watch and be Inspired By… The Story of Hound Tor
The creative tasks for this week are at the end of the video – we can’t wait to see what you create!
We are very excited to share with you all a very special dance video, choreographed by Education Officer Helen Gilbert.
We would love you to learn the dance and then send in your own version*. The aim is to create a wonderful mash up of lots of different people doing the same dance. We may not be able to boogie all together – but there’s nothing stopping us boogieing online and in our living rooms!
So, get ready to move and groove and be Inspired By… I Once Held Her
Music by Josh Levontine and Gillian Webster
with lyrics by Mark Beeson.
Have fun moving and grooving!
The second half of the video is Helen teaching you the dance.
Send in responses to florrietaylor@medtheatre.co.uk
*By sending in your responses you agree to feature within the finished video
The creative tasks are at the end of the video and include tasks for early years, through to young adults.
We would love to see some of your creations, send them in to florrietaylor@medtheatre.co.uk
This week we want you to creatively engage with your daily walks…
Here’s a snippet from MED Theatre’s 2015 shadow play, performed by Sarah Vigars and Grace Swordy with music by Gillian Webster.
This shadow play was adapted from a narrative poem by Artistic Director Mark Beeson.
Watch and be Inspired By… The Walk
As it was the first week back to home learning for many young people this week, we wanted to create some fun tasks for you to carry out over the weekend – or for you to do during your lessons next week.
Today’s Inspired By… looks at the similarities between lives for communities during WWII and now, during the UK lockdown.
Take a listen to this snippet from the latest episode of our Wild Night’s Young Company’s podcast for some initial inspiration. The tasks are at the end of the video.
We wish you a happy and creative weekend
Love
The MED Team
We would love to see how you get on, so if you’d like to share them with us email them to florrietaylor@medtheatre.co.uk
For the full podcast episode click here.
Feeling inspired?
Email florrietaylor@medtheatre.co.uk with your creative responses.
We have a beautiful animation created by Sarah Vincent with original music from Gillian Webster.
This animation was created for MED Theatre’s Dartmoor Resource Project. Taking inspiration from Dartmoor’s very own Jacobean and Caroline playwright – John Ford (who is said to have been friends with Shakespeare).
As you watch this imagine what it might have been like to live on Dartmoor during the Jacobean period? What would the landscape have looked like? What would the people have been like? Imagine, you’re walking late at night across the moor – what do you see, who do you meet? Let your imaginations run wild.
We have another radio play from our Rising Lights drama group (5-7 year olds). They recorded this in their regular Tuesday sessions before UK lockdown but drew the pictures whilst in isolation at home as part of our online drama groups.
Listen and be Inspired By… The Legend of Jan Coo
What do you think happened to Jan Coo? We invite you to write the next part of his story – where did he go? Who did he meet? Is he still roaming Dartmoor?
However you want to respond to this story we want to hear from you.
Send your submissions into florrietaylor@medtheatre.co.uk
Perhaps you could write a story in response to the music? Or think about the qualities that water has and create a dance or poem in response to these? However you want to respond to this, we want to hear from you!
Send your submissions into florrietaylor@medtheatre.co.uk
We wanted to share something to lift people’s spirits if they’re feeling the effects of this period of isolation, particularly over this weekend where the separation of families and friends might have been more felt.
This piece of music was composed by Jonny Hibbs with vocals from Clare Lash Williams and formed part of our Dartmoor Rivers project which was supported by the Michael Tippett Musical Foundation.
Listen and be Inspired By… Sweet Dart
Whilst you listen we encourage you to close your eyes, listen to your breath and just be with the music.
For this Inspired By… post we are continuing with the theme of World War II, furthering research for our new Devon and Dartmoor in World War II project, which looks at the impact of the global crisis in rurally isolated areas.
This short film was made by our Wild Night’s Young Company in 2007, filmed on location at Castle Drogo. This was a Heritage Lottery funded project and was greatly helped by partnership with the National Trust.
The MED Theatre team are searching for stories or personal memories of life in rural Devon during the outbreak of the war. We would love for you to gather these and share them with us. Do you know someone with a story? Or perhaps you know of some local history you would like to share?
Happy Easter
The MED Team
Watch and be Inspired By… The Children’s Castle
Send in your submissions to florrietaylor@medtheatre.co.uk
For the full play head to the Wolf Whispers page!
Send in your responses to florrietaylor@medtheatre.co.uk
Enjoy an extract from a radio play made by MED Theatre’s Young Company (13-19 year olds). This play was part of an 18 month project, supported by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2016. This extract is based on a true incident that happened in Buckfastleigh during World War II.
Perhaps you could write your own vampire story in response? Or write a monologue from the perspective of one of the characters? However you want to respond – we want to hear from you!
For April’s first Inspired By..
A radio play created by MED Theatre’s Rising Lights Drama Group (5-7 years old) based on a Dartmoor Myth.
Listen and be Inspired By…The Hunted Hare
Perhaps you could create your own storyboard? Write a poem about the old lady’s encounter with the hare, or record a song or piece of music? Whatever you’re inspired to do, we want to hear from you!
Send in your creative responses to florrietaylor@medtheatre.co.uk.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Send in your creative responses to florrietaylor@medtheatre.co.uk
Up next for Inspired By…
A piece of original music created by two young MED Theatre musicians, Jonny Hibbs and Safi Joscelyne.
Listen and be Inspired By…music from The Coast
Perhaps you could choreograph a short dance and film yourself performing it? Or generate a piece of creative writing in response to how the music makes you feel? Maybe even create your own original music on an instrument you have at home, or find things lying around the house. However you want to respond to this piece of music – we want to hear from you!
For this Friday’s Inspired By… we have something a little different for you.
An animation designed and created by Anna Lilley, with music by Abigail Kingsley-Parker for MED Theatre’s Dartmoor Resource Project.
Maybe you could write and perform a poem, or a monologue, draw a flower garden or even create your own short film?
Get creative!
Listen and be Inspired by… The Bed of Tulips
Send in your creative responses to florrietaylor@medtheatre.co.uk
However you are inspired, we want to hear from you!
Send in your creations to florrietaylor@medtheatre.co.uk.
The legend of The Hunter Bowerman.
Listen to this exciting and magical Dartmoor myth. We would love to see your responses to this new INSPIRED BY… With audio and illustration from our very own Education Officer, Helen.
Perhaps you could send in your own drawings of Bowerman’s Nose? Or send in a video of you telling the story in your own way? Maybe even create your own witches song?
Our first Inspired By…comes from our very own Abby Shephard. An audio recording of a Dartmoor myth.
Listen and be Inspired By…
The Cavalier of Blackadon Tor
We’d love to gather your responses to this audio recording whether thats a dance, a poem, a drawing or a piece of music – anything that this inspires you to create.
Send in your creations to florrietaylor@medtheatre.co.uk.
We can’t wait to receive your submissions!
INSPIRED BY… is supported by The National Lottery Community Fund and by Dartmoor National Park