A review of MED’s recent performance of ‘Stapledon’ at St Andrew’s Church, Ashburton

Just when you thought that a MED production couldn’t get any better “Stapledon” appears and literally takes centre stage! Again and again MED excel themselves and this play followed suit. Always robustly researched and based upon historical, Dartmoor connected fact, their performances are always well attended. The venue for this particular event was so appropriate in Ashburton at St Andrew’s Church which architecturally lends itself to a community play with an ecclesiastical subject.

From the very outset the evening’s performance was enhanced by a seemingly all too brief concert of mediaeval music which complimented the performance beautifully, such was the standard and quality of playing this reviewer would be happy to sit down for an entire evening of that music alone! But what followed was an historical treat.

From the outset “Stapledon” was hard-hitting, fast moving, well performed and clearly well researched. It was lovely to again see the age range of the cast really cross several generations with wonderful local accents from the Dartmoor area.

This historical drama charted the life of Walter Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter (1261–1326) from his humble origins coming from a farming family in North Devon, through his meteoric rise in the church and politics to become King Edward II’s most trusted diplomat and treasurer, to his murder at the hands of a London mob in 1326. Stapledon was responsible for the building of large sections of Exeter Cathedral. The elaborate soaring Bishop’s throne still visible today, was commissioned by him. Stapledon’s other claim to fame is as the founder of Stapledon Hall at Oxford, which later became Exeter College, and coincidentally the home of a copy of the Statutes of the Stannaries printed at Tavistock Abbey prior to the dissolution of the monasteries.

The play is based on detailed research into the life of the ‘quiet man’ of Edward II’s reign, who flew under the political radar for much of the period. He knew both of Edward’s favourites, Gaveston and Hugh Despenser, and befriended Isabella as well as Edward himself, but this did not save him from his death at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. The privations, poverty and terrible conditions endured by the Dartmoor residents at this time in history were diabolical. The story is a real eye-opener. Detailing the conditions prevailing at the time on Dartmoor.

The company has evolved from a tradition of original community plays using local performers, composers, musicians, set designers, costume makers, choreographers, back-stage technicians and writers. MED theatre productions are inspired by Dartmoor’s industrial history, striking topography and distinctive ecology combined with the contemporary social challenges faced by residents of the national park. As well as providing thought provoking entertainment to audiences (made up of both local residents and visitors), the plays dramatise serious social, scientific and environmental issues relevant to Dartmoor and aim to promote the area's distinctiveness through its culture and its people.

The whole cast and team are to be congratulated for another excellent evening’s entertainment, education and enlightenment, and this reviewer, for one, is looking forward to their next production as always!