We have had a lovely few months working alongside our partners, South Devon National Landscapes, to commission a piece of theatre to tour to communities in three Devon towns: Dartmouth, Kingsbridge and Modbury.
As part of the Life on The Edge project we worked with Running Dog Theatre to develop and tour their show Songs From The Shore. Working in each location, with members of the community, Josh and Sian created a beautiful piece of gig theatre. Community members shared stories, wrote poetry and composed new music. They also ran a wonderful drama workshop for drama students at Dartmouth Community College.
Songs from the Shore is a new gig theatre show about the coast – its landscapes, its people, and its stories. Running Dog Theatre artists, Josh and Sian, took inspiration and knowledge from Nicky Bailey, walking parts of the SW coast path as part of their R&D process.
They also worked in 3 locations with members of the community, recording their stories and writing music together.
They then spent three weeks developing their piece, devising and rehearsing in Alibi Theatre’s wonderful venue Emmanuel Hall. I felt very privileged to be able to join them and see the show develop at each stage.
The photos below are from the performance at Modbury Memorial Hall, where one of the incredible community members, John, stepped up on to the stage to share the poem he wrote for the show.
