It is hard to imagine any more glorious setting for an outdoor theatre than the world-famous Minack Theatre created in the 1930’s on the cliffs of Cornwall, near Lands End, by the redoubtable Rowena Cade.
The impressive amphitheatre carved into the cliff is a 550 seater auditorium, which comes complete with free views of seals, dolphins, and basking sharks! These distractions, along with the regular criss-cross of the Scillies helicopters, the noisy RIB boats that roar up, and then bob around on the sea, giving their passengers a close-up of the theatre, the occasional flurry of Coast Guard activity, the calling and diving of seabirds, the fishermen on the rocks below, the boats passing by and the glorious views - both day and night - mean that the dramatic offerings, for which this amazing space was created, can often feel a bit of an afterthought!
For Bath’s very own Next Stage Theatre Company this was its 12th outing to the Minack. Having first performed there in 1998, Next Stage has been back every two years since 2001, until the company’s visits were put on hold by the pandemic. With the Minack closed in 2020, and only partially open in 2021, Next Stage has had to wait four years since its last production - Great Expectations in 2019 - before returning last week with A Streetcar Named Desire.
The Minack team had entrusted Next Stage with delivering the very first Tennessee Williams play ever to be performed at the Minack and there was therefore a lot resting on this production. Bath audiences had already had the chance to see it in July when it had played to sell out audiences at the Mission theatre and had received rave reviews.
The first challenge any company has to face when asked to perform at The Minack is getting the set, props and costumes from the top of the cliff to the bottom. The answer is to create the famous “Minack chain” whereby everything - other than very large and/or cumbersome items - are chained down the cliff by actors and crew, all standing close enough to each-other to allow items to be passed from one person to another without anyone having to take unnecessary steps and risk overbalancing on the steep, raked terraces.
The next challenge is provided by the elements. Any company appearing at The Minack has to bear in mind that, performing in the open, in a British summer, on the Atlantic Ocean is likely to mean that they will be drenched in rain, blown off their feet in thirty mile-per-hour gales, or severely burnt if the matinee performances take place in blazing sun. Last week the Next Stage company did not have blazing sun as a problem, but certainly experienced everything else that the unkind British summer wanted to throw at them - gales, rain, fog and unseasonably low temperatures.
However, despite all the challenges, including one of the company nearly losing her voice and another one sustaining injury to her knee, the show DID go on and proved to be as popular with Cornish audiences as it had been with Bath ones. Jenni Balow, the opening night reviewer, praised Next Stage’s “searing drama” and the “brave decision” by the company to undertake this particular play, which “simmers” and “does deliver” on all fronts.
Whilst any production week at The Minack is physically exhausting for all who are participating in the marathon, it is an extremely rewarding and exhilarating experience and one which gives memories that last a lifetime.
Ann Ellison BEM, Director of A Streetcar Named Desire said on her return from Cornwall:
“I am incredibly proud of our intrepid band of talented actors, musicians, and crew, who supported me last week and pulled off such a memorable run of shows. They all worked so hard and truly deserved the standing ovations they received nightly and should feel very pleased with what they’ve achieved.”
