Beast!

There have long been reports of beasts on the loose on Exmoor. And indeed many other locations across the UK. But in 1983 things got serious. Something started slaughtering and savaging sheep by the score. Lives and livelihoods were at stake. The Marines were called in. But though there were reported sightings - and a shot or two fired in anger - the beast remained at large. Beast! takes the bare facts and twists and turns them into a freewheeling journey around various beast stories - some with their genesis in Devon, some from much farther afield. The play is based in part on research undertaken ten years after the event. Members of Orchard Theatre spoke to a number of the key players in the events of 1983 - including farmers, marines and the police. But let it be clear that none of the characters in this play is 'real' in the sense of being based on persons alive or dead.