Minack Theatre

The Minack Theatre (also simply called The Minack ) is a unique open-air theater on the south coast of Cornwall (England), which has been built into a rock hillside directly on the lake near the village Porthcurno. It is located just a few miles from Land's End. In the Cornish language is meynek the name for a rocky place.

History

The theater was idea and life's work of Rowena Cade, who had bought the land in the 1920s for 100 pounds and lived there in a self-built house. A local ensemble was then 1929 and 1930 the play A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare listed on a nearby field and now planning the production of Shakespeare's The Tempest. Rowena Cade offered as a venue at their garden, which ended in a drop down to the sea; this background seemed appropriate because the play takes place on an island. Cade and her gardener Billy Rawlings laid in the coming winter in laborious work a stage and seating at what they managed approach stones both higher ground as well as from a nearby beach. 1932, the play was performed and was a great success. Cade worked from then on her life in the highest age in the expansion of the theater. It was supported by Rawlings and his friend Charles Angove, later also by other volunteers and friends. The work found this place in the winter, while was played in summer.

Since 1976, the theater as a Charitable Trust (a type of foundation) is acknowledged.

Rowena Cade died on 26 March 1983 at the age of 89 years. She left behind extensive plans for further expansion, some of which are not realized until today.

Today

Currently 16 plays are performed each year from June to September. Groups come from the UK and the USA. Traditionally, Shakespeare's works are often given; every 10 years there is a jubilee performance of The Tempest.

Played partially also in the evening and if necessary even in bad weather. Viewers then come up with thermos, rain capes are provided by the theater.

The spectator stands are all made ​​of stone and partly overgrown with grass. The title of each piece played is struck with the corresponding year in one of the stone backrests, so that now hardly any of the about 750 more seats is blank.

Above the theater is a permanent Rowena Cade - exhibition, are documented in Cade's life and the history of Minack, and a small café. Since 1998, some slopes are transformed by plantations in colorful gardens. The Minack is open to visitors year round.