A coffin is being carried by procession across the moor, but who is the man inside and how did he end up there? 

Dartmoor-based MED Theatre are continuing their tradition of touring original drama, created with and for local communities, with their latest piece, Granite. 

This production weaves true stories of current moorland residents recorded via oral history collection with tales from Dartmoor writer John Trevena’s 1909 novel of the same title. 

It is a story about people living in Victorian Dartmoor and the struggles and joys of their rural existence. It is about conflict; between those who think they know better and those who are just trying to get through each day. 

Granite invites audiences to explore historic attitudes and a community’s treatment of one another, and to take note of how, and whether, times have changed. 

The production is part of a larger project called ‘The Stark Reality of Rural Living’, funded by Historic England, which explores Dartmoor's history as a place of work and human activity over the past 150 years, challenging the romanticised ideal of a wilderness that literature and tourism have painted of our Devonian rurality.

Granite can be seen tomorrow night (Friday) and Saturday at Manaton Parish Hall, and later the following week at Belstone Village Hall on March 14, Buckfastleigh’s Southpark Community Centre on March 15 and two shows at Moretonhampstead Parish Hall on March 17 and 18.

All performances start at 7:30pm and tickets are priced at  £10 and £7 children under 16. Tickets  can be booked online at  www.medtheatre.co.uk