The Marvelous Minack Theatre

We have just returned from Cornwall, where the highlight of the trip was the spectacular open air Minack Theatre on the cliff top overlooking the Atlantic near Land’s End.

In my book, Some People Prefer Hotels http://somepeoplepreferhotels.co.uk/  I write about visiting the Minack’s Exhibition Centre and impressive gardens, as well as the first (and last) time we saw a play there back in 1971. It was an evening performance, and sat on hard concrete seats we soon realised why everyone else took cushions to sit on. The sun went down, the temperature plummeted and we were soon chilled to the bone. The sea breezes intensified, it started to rain and by the interval we felt as though we were suffering from hypothermia. So couldn’t wait to get back to our tent and warm ourselves up.

On our maiden motorhome trip in 2006, our visit coincided with glorious sunshine. Meandering down the imposing steps towards the stage, we reminisced about our previous visit, and strolling around the Exhibition Centre we learnt how Rowena Cade had masterminded the theatre in the 1930s. Inspired, we promised to return to watch a performance, but agreed it would be a matinee in the sunshine (we hoped), rather than an evening production as before during worsening weather.

Last Christmas, we were delighted to receive Minack vouchers from our eldest daughter, Joscelin. And when we saw that one of our favourite stories, i.e. Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd was being performed, that’s what we went to see. The weather forecast wasn’t promising, with the first rain for weeks forecast that very afternoon. However, the forecasters were wrong: the sun beat down and with no shade and no breeze, the theatre was like a cauldron, and we were more likely to suffer from heatstroke that time around.

Having seen the film many times, we were interested to see how Hardy’s complex novel would come across on stage. We weren’t disappointed: the acting was superb, the play was easy to follow, and we vowed not to wait another 43 years before returning to watch another magical Minack performance, albeit, we hope, in slightly cooler conditions.