Story (2003) was made up of five plays written by young people and a final play entitled Isolation by Mark Beeson. The plays written by young people were: The Fox of Jay’s Grave by Daisy Martinez, Willow by Jaye Noble, Running Water by Heather Holcroft-Pinn, The Sparkly Stone by Maeve O’ Neill and A Walk Down the Lane by Laura Wilson. The stories were written after storytelling workshops given by Michael Dacre which looked particularly at folklore from their local Dartmoor area. All plays shared certain features, allowing a sense of linkage and cohesion within the project: all took place in a rural setting, all were written by and about children facing the world largely without adults. The ethos of the whole project was inclusion and active participation on the part of the kids, allowing them to take creative control of the project which included the direction as well as the writing of the plays.
Isolation (2003), a play for teenagers written by Mark Beeson, examines the stories that shape us as individuals, how we construct them and persuade others to believe in them. It follows two sisters, Rachel and Callie who struggle to hold together their family and do so by creating fragile fantasies and half truths about their lives, forming a platform for themselves and those close to them. How secure is this platform when it becomes threatened?
