DARTMOOR theatre company MED Theatre has been commissioned by BBC 2 to make a film for its young filmakers? project Blast.
MED Theatre?s film, Grave Intimations, is a dance documentary on the Kitty Jay myth - the BBC had not heard of the concept of a dance documentary before and were intrigued by the newness of this idea.
MED Theatre?s young company had been working for nearly eighteen months alongside artistic director Mark Beeson on new work exploring the relevance of Dartmoor?s folklore and mythology to life on Dartmoor today ? culminating in the Myth project performances in July.
As a result, when the BBC commission came at short notice, Daniel Rayner, Jess Avis, Holly Barker, Daisy Martinez, Abi Kingsley-Garner and Joffy Hall were able to bring their in-depth research to this new project, which was rehearsed and filmed on location in early September.
The filming and editing were done with the assistance of Coombeshead Media Unit based at Coombeshead College, in particular Phil Gurr and Rae Hoole, while Villages in Action Digital Express provided support for the recording of the music.
As seventeen year old director and presenter Daniel Rayner explains during the course of the film, the beauty of the Jay myth lies in its variability, expressing the emotions implicit in the social exclusion which every angle of the story reflects.
Three different dancers dance three versions of Jay?s death, mentored by choreographer Rosalyn Maynard. Locations used include Canna Barn, where according to one version Jay is thought to have hanged herself, and Canna Lane, where the oral record claims she was first buried, before being dug up and moved to her current resting place in sight of Hound Tor.
The fifteen minute film is to be shown today (Thursday).