{"id":1595,"date":"2022-04-09T11:59:29","date_gmt":"2022-04-09T11:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/steveexp.xyz\/?page_id=1595"},"modified":"2022-04-09T11:59:29","modified_gmt":"2022-04-09T11:59:29","slug":"the-project","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/wp3\/the-project\/","title":{"rendered":"The Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

The essence of the modern community play is that it tells a story taken from a community\u2019s past. Typically, the historical setting will be factual while the actual story may be fictitious, but nevertheless makes use of authentic material, and if the play has resonances with today, so much the better. You can read a full paper describing the project by clicking here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The community play in this instance was entitled \u201cThe Bonny Moorhen\u201d, a text which Jack Drum Arts had commissioned from writer Jim Woodland more than 15 years previously and performed as a four-hander. \u201cThe Bonny Moorhen\u201d tells of the events leading up to and surrounding a localised conflict known as The Battle Of Stanhope, which took place on December 7th, 1818. The Napoleonic wars had come to an end reducing the demand for lead for bullets; lead mining was an important industry in Weardale so dire poverty ensued. To make ends meet the lead miners took to hunting the \u2018bonny moorhen\u2019, which is a red grouse. Shute Barrington was the Prince Bishop of the day and in the Palatinate County of Durham the Prince Bishop was the ruler and master of the County with both secular and religious powers. The Prince Bishop was displeased with the poaching lead miners and contended that only he was allowed to hunt the grouse. He assembled an army of gamekeepers and bailiffs and sent them into Weardale to apprehend as many of these poachers as possible. They captured brothers, Charles and Anthony Siddle, and proceeded to take them back to Durham City. They stopped for refreshment on the morning of December 7th 1818 in a pub then known as the Black Bull (now known as The Bonny Moorhen). Charles\u2019 and Anthony\u2019s friends, family and associates descended on the pub and an almighty battle ensued in which the Prince Bishop\u2019s men were defeated and put to flight.<\/p>\n

To put things in perspective we should consider the harshness of a lead miner\u2019s life with children as young as 8 years old being employed as \u2018washer boys\u2019 and a short life expectancy for all those who worked in the industry. Set against this grim industrial enslavement there was the wide-open beauty of Weardale, and the freedom of the \u2018bonny moorhen\u2019 to fly over the land unimpeded. The Prince Bishop\u2019s actions, meanwhile, sought to limit the freedom of the people in Weardale. Men who had worked in the harsh conditions of the lead mines from early childhood were unlikely to be cowed by the Prince Bishop\u2019s gamekeepers, and this might explain why the gamekeepers found them so difficult to apprehend, and then having apprehended them, found them so difficult to retain in captivity.<\/p>\n

So, this was the story that the community play would tell. Effectively the project began in October 2011 and because of funding conditions the performances needed to take place before the end of March 2012. It was therefore decided that the play would be performed over the penultimate weekend in March and an agricultural shed in Stanhope would be converted into a theatre to accommodate the shows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The essence of the modern community play is that it tells a story taken from a community\u2019s past. Typically, the historical setting will be factual while the actual story may be fictitious, but nevertheless makes use of authentic material, and …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wp3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1595"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wp3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wp3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wp3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wp3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wp3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1595\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wp3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}