Matter of Britain was a performance by an English country village of the medieval Wasteland mythology. In that mythology, King Arthur’s knights quest for the Holy Grail in order to heal their devastated land.

The performance took place over 12 months from 2023 to 2024 in multiple locations across the parish of Mayfield, East Sussex. Over 300 members of the community took part as questing knights, injured soldiers, holy hermits, guiding anchorites, angelic choirs and tempting devils.

The process was documented in the moving image ethnography titled Chapters from The Tale of the Holy Grail, BOOK XIII of Le Morte d’Arthur, Performed by an English Country Village.

The work was supported by an Arts Council of England Project Grant, the Lund Trust, High Weald AONB, East Sussex Arts Partnership, the University of Reading and the Museum of English Rural Life.