Something for the Weekend to Bring THE MAN ON THE MOOR to Underbelly
By: BWW News Desk Jun. 13, 2017
Fresh from his critically acclaimed run of The Trunk at last year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Max Dickins returns with a new one-man play, The Man on the Moor, inspired by the incredible true story.
On December 12th 2015, the body of an elderly-looking man was discovered beside a path on Saddleworth Moor in the Peak District. He was lying on his back, arms placed across his chest like a mummy, facing perfectly straight downhill. He was carrying no form of identification: no phone, no wallet, no cards, no driving licence, and no keys. In his pockets was £130 in cash and three train tickets: Ealing Broadway to London Euston, and a return ticket from Euston to Manchester.
The police checked the body against the National Criminal Intelligence and Missing Persons databases. Neither provided a match. And despite a nationwide media campaign, no one came forward with any information about the identity of the man. He seemed to have no name, no home, no family, and no friends; apart from his body, there was no evidence that this man ever existed at all.
Three questions abounded: Who was this man? Why did he travel 200 miles to die on Saddleworth Moor? And - how can this possibly happen in the modern world?
In The Man On The Moor, Dickins explores the story from the perspective of those searching for missing loved ones. He portrays a man looking for his own missing father; mirroring the real-life case of the son of Hugh Toner, (who had vanished from a hospital in Northern Ireland in 1994). In January 2016 Toner's son approached the police believing that the description of the man on the moor matched that of his father. DNA evidence eventually ruled out a link, with Toner's son saying at the time, "Although this is a setback for my family and I, we will continue to search for answers in the hope that someday we will have closure."
And it is this emotional purgatory that forms the main theme of the piece: people who vanish leave their friends and family in an excruciating limbo; not knowing whether their loved ones are dead or alive. Not knowing if they could have done anything to stop them leaving. There is anger, hurt, guilt, and burning curiosity: what drives someone to disappear? What are they running from or towards? How did I not see this coming? These feelings never dissipate or ease. Those left behind do not experience grief, but something different - something more painful, because grief has a resolution; the left behind do not.
In February this year, following a heroic 18 month police investigation, the man on the moor was finally identified as David Lytton. Much detail has since emerged about his life, death, and final journey. But the central mystery of this tragic story still remains unresolved: why did he do it? Perhaps we'll never know. But at least his family have closure. Many others are not so lucky.
The Greater Manchester Police were contacted by 40 other people trying to identify missing relatives. All of them looking at the same photo and seeing their loved one. None provided a match. An estimated quarter of a million people go missing in the UK every year. 95% of missing people return within a week. But each year 2,000 people go missing and are never found. This is a story about them and the people looking for them, in this cathartic tale of amateur sleuthing.
Tickets can be purchased here.
IF YOU GO:
Something for the Weekend presents:
The Man On The Moor
Underbelly, Cowgate | Belly Dancer
15:00 (16:00)
3-27 August
2-4-1 on 7th * 8th August
0844 545 8252
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