Rowena Cade & The Minack
Rowena Cade was born on 2nd August 1893 in Derbyshire, then her family moved to Cheltenham when Rowena's father retired in 1906
After World War I, Rowena rented a house at Lamorna, in Cornwall ...
Whilst living there, she discovered the Minack headland and was able to buy it for £100 and build a house for herself and her Mother, using granite from the local quarry ...
After World War I, Rowena rented a house at Lamorna, in Cornwall ...
Whilst living there, she discovered the Minack headland and was able to buy it for £100 and build a house for herself and her Mother, using granite from the local quarry ...
The Tempest
And this was where she first got involved in the theatre, when, in the summer of 1932, she allowed local friends to use her gardens and the rugged coastline as a backdrop to the Shakespearian play "The Tempest"
Seating the audience was a bit of a brain-teaser!
Until she considered the gully above the Minack Rock, the site of the theatre today ...
It took six months for Rowena and her two Cornish gardeners to build some basic seating
The first performance of "The Tempest" in the summer of 1932 was lit by batteries, car headlights and the feeble power brought down from Minack House.
The audience got their tickets from a table in Rowena's garden, and then scrambled down a gorse lined path to the theatre. The Tempest was a great success, and even attracted an article in The Times. Rowena Cade had enjoyed the venture, and decided to continue with The Minack as a theatre
Seating the audience was a bit of a brain-teaser!
Until she considered the gully above the Minack Rock, the site of the theatre today ...
It took six months for Rowena and her two Cornish gardeners to build some basic seating
The first performance of "The Tempest" in the summer of 1932 was lit by batteries, car headlights and the feeble power brought down from Minack House.
The audience got their tickets from a table in Rowena's garden, and then scrambled down a gorse lined path to the theatre. The Tempest was a great success, and even attracted an article in The Times. Rowena Cade had enjoyed the venture, and decided to continue with The Minack as a theatre
To get ready for that first performance, Rowena worked during the winter of 1931-32 with her gardener Billy Rawlings and his mate Charles Thomas Angove
They laboured hard, cutting granite from local rock, creating the terraces and in-filling them with earth.
It was a dangerous job, but they managed it without any injuries.
And, each year, the theatre was improved, until 1939 ...
when World War II saw the army take over the area.
Coastal defenses were built and barbed wire entanglements spread around the whole site ...
Rowena Cade became the local billeting officer for hundreds of evacuee children sent to Cornwall from London and the Blitz.
By the end of the war, the theatre had disappeared back into the undergrowth.
So Rowena had to start over again to restore it, and even converted the gun position into the theatre's Box Office!
They laboured hard, cutting granite from local rock, creating the terraces and in-filling them with earth.
It was a dangerous job, but they managed it without any injuries.
And, each year, the theatre was improved, until 1939 ...
when World War II saw the army take over the area.
Coastal defenses were built and barbed wire entanglements spread around the whole site ...
Rowena Cade became the local billeting officer for hundreds of evacuee children sent to Cornwall from London and the Blitz.
By the end of the war, the theatre had disappeared back into the undergrowth.
So Rowena had to start over again to restore it, and even converted the gun position into the theatre's Box Office!
For many years, Rowena Cade carried the financial burden of the Minack Theatre on her own. She had approached a London drama school and the National Trust, but had received no help.Finally, in 1976 Rowena Cade gave the Minack Theatre to a charitable trust. The trustees extended the season of plays, built a Visitor Centre which is open all year round and enlarged the retailing operation. These moves attracted bigger audiences and at last the theatre was able to pay its way.
Rowena Cade worked away improving the theatre every winter in all weathers until she was in her mid-eighties.
She died in 1983 just short of her ninetieth birthday
Become a Friend of the Minack
Congratulations to The Hertfordshire Players
... winners of The Minack Trophy 2008 for their production of 'Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds'
We were lucky enough to go and see this magnificent production on the clifftops near Porthcurno in Cornwall ...
More Minack Pics
taken in January 2009
I think this one looks like an alien in an armchair!
Coming soon ...
We're looking forward to this in April
Worth a visit?
submit
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Reply
- Nicola Nicola Apr 9, 2009 @ 11:58 am
- Going to see La Traviata in July..........can't wait!
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Reply
- susannaduffy susannaduffy Mar 10, 2009 @ 10:03 am
- I would like to know more about the theatre. The photos give a lot of interest. Well done
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Reply
- A8ch A8ch Mar 10, 2009 @ 9:13 am
- Loved the photos.
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Reply
- drifter0658 drifter0658 Mar 10, 2009 @ 7:29 am
- Wow. The amphitheater won my heart thanks to your photos. And the musical looked cool.
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Reply
- niniane niniane Mar 3, 2009 @ 9:17 am
- Wonderful lens about a place I still dream about, add to that War of the Worlds
fabulous
- Load More
The Minack
The World of Minack (Minack Chronicles)
Amazon Price: $9.56 (as of 12/29/2009) 
The Confusion Room (Minack Chronicles)
Amazon Price: (as of 12/29/2009)
Minack Open-air Theatre
Amazon Price: (as of 12/29/2009)
Great Minack Stories
Amazon Price: (as of 12/29/2009)
by WhichCraft
Hello from Cornwall, and from me, Hilary ...
Originally from the Midlands, I have been in Cornwall for 13 years now, and before that, I lived near Bo... (more)
Originally from the Midlands, I have been in Cornwall for 13 years now, and before that, I lived near Bo... (more)
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