20 Oct The Body on Killhope Moor 2021
Following a successful application to The National Heritage Lottery, Drama in the Dale was able to put on its most ambitious project to date.
The initial idea was to create a murder mystery. On learning about the story of a suspicious find of a body on Killhope Moor by Titus Harrison in 1921 the group decided to develop this into a play.
The funding allowed Drama in the Dale to work in depth with a Researcher from Durham University, Dr Barbara Crosbie and a local writer David Napthine. However, Covid happened. Not to be deterred we moved online and zoom meeting were set up with participants for the research and writing group. Due to this it enabled people from across the country to become involved. The writing group had participants from as far afield as Essex and Oxford.
Following the work done by the research group, using original reports of the find the writers developed a play set in three time zones, 1745 when it was believed the body was buried, 1921 when it was discovered and the present day.
Once the script was finalised, rehearsals started for our performance at Killhope Lead Mining Museum, the closest point to where the body was believed to have been found.
Working with a newly written script meant that the actors were able to consult with the writers on elements that needed altering to suit their character.
The whole process was video recorded for prosperity and an exhibition of information found by the research group was created.