Minack Theatre

While heading down to the southern most point of England, we discovered something that was quite the experience. In 1931, a lady by the name of Rowena Cade began to construct a theatre that is literally perched on the edge of the sea. With her own money and with limited help from a couple of tradesmen, she literally carved this venue into the rocks above Minack Rock. It is quite the story and except for a few years during the war, it was all her hard work and sweat. During the war, they set an anti-aircraft gun on the point and covered it all in barb-wire. She evidently used to sneak in and cut the grass. There is also a story of a ship wreck that happened on the shores below. This little determined woman drug 12 foot beams up the cliffs to use build the dressing rooms for the theatre. When Spanish sailors came looking for the remains of the wreck, they couldn't believe this little lady could haul the timber up the hill so they let her have what was up at the theatre. This was her life's work until she died in 1983.



Lucky for us, the owner of the B&B where we stayed had all the tricks for us. We were to pack a meal and make a picnic of the evening. The winds rising off the English Channel are cold this time of year so we put on most all of our clothes and she also gave us blankets. To be honest, it was almost not enough. Some regulars brought sleeping bags and climbed inside them to watch the show. This was the opening performance of the season and Beauty and the Beast was on the bill. It was very well done and we did learn that this is a very popular venue to play and groups from all over are lined up to get a chance to do a production here.



We were there early to set up for our picnic. We hiked down the hill to the seats and the usher really hooked us up. There are grass seats on one side and the other side has concrete seats that Rowena hand crafted with concrete and carved the names of each production into the seats over the years (see the Alice and Wonderland). They showed us a set of reserved seats three rows off the stage. If you look at the picture with Marshall Sr. you can see the little Skelton huddle right beside the box seat on the farthest point away in the picture.



Lucky for us, the rains held out and we had a great night. The hardest part was driving to and from the show. We took a picture out the car window. This was symbolic of many roads in Cornwall and my Volvo literally was all but scraping the sides of the banks as we went along stretches like this. If we met another car, I'd probably just have to go into 4 Wheel Drive mode because I am not sure there is another choice.