The Minack Theatre ( kw, Gwaryjy Minack) is an open-air

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

, constructed above a gully with a rocky granite outcrop jutting into the sea. The theatre is at

Porthcurno Porthcurno ( kw, Porthkornow, Porthcornow, meaning ''"pinnacle cove"'', see below) is a small village covering a small valley and beach on the south coast of Cornwall, England in the United Kingdom. It is the main settlement in a civil and an ec ...

, from

Land's End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England. The season runs each year from May to September. , some 80,000 people a year see a show, and more than 100,000 pay an entrance fee to look around the site. It has appeared in a listing of the world's most spectacular theatres. The theatre was the brainchild of

Rowena Cade Rowena Cade (1893–1983) was the creator of the Minack Theatre in Porthcurno, Cornwall, UK. Cade was born in Spondon near Derby on 2 August 1893.

, who moved to Cornwall after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and built a house for herself and her mother on land at Minack Point for £100. Her sister was the feminist dystopian author

Katharine Burdekin Katharine Burdekin (23 July 1896 – 10 August 1963) (born Katharine Penelope Cade) was a British novelist who wrote speculative fiction concerned with social and spiritual matters. John Clute, "Burdekin, Katherine P(enelope)" in The Encyclope ...

, and her partner lived with them from the 1920s. In 1929, a local village group of players had staged

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

'' in a nearby meadow at Crean, repeating the production the next year. They decided that their next production would be '' The Tempest'' and Cade offered the garden of her house as a suitable location, as it was beside the sea. Cade and her gardener, Billy Rawlings, made a terrace and rough seating, hauling materials down from the house or up via the winding path from the beach below. In 1932, ''The Tempest'' was performed with the sea as a dramatic backdrop, to great success. Cade resolved to improve the theatre, working over the course of the winter months each year throughout her life (with the help of Rawlings and Charles Angove), so that others might perform each summer. In 1944, the theatre was used as a location for the

Gainsborough Studios Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, north London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The com ...

film '' Love Story'', starring Stewart Granger and

Margaret Lockwood Margaret Mary Day Lockwood, CBE (15 September 1916 – 15 July 1990), was an English actress. One of Britain's most popular film stars of the 1930s and 1940s, her film appearances included ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938), ''Night Train to Munich' ...

but inclement weather forced them to retreat to a studio mock-up. In 1955, the first dressing rooms were built. In the 1970s, the theatre was managed by

Lawrence Shove Lawrence Clive Shove (5 November 1923 – 2 April 1995) was a British sound recordist, specialising in field recordings of wildlife. The "Shove collection of British wildlife" at the National Sound Archive (NSA), part of the British Library comp ...

. Since 1976 the theatre has been registered as a charitable trust and is now run by a local management team. Rowena Cade died on 26 March 1983, at the age of 89. The Minack currently is used from Easter to September for a full summer season of 20 plays, produced by companies from all over the UK and visiting companies from the US. The theatre is open for visitors throughout the rest of the year. The 75th anniversary of the Minack was celebrated with a production of ''The Tempest'' in August 2007, directed by Simon Taylor and performed by the

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

Players.

References

External links

Official website with pictures and full historyBBC tribute to the 30th anniversary of the death of Rowena Cade
{{Authority control Penwith Theatres in Cornwall 1932 establishments in England