Minack miracle...

I don’t have a bucket list, but I do have one or two things I want to do before it’s too late. At the top of that list was to sit in the sunshine on a warm dry day and watch a little Shakespeare at the open-air Minack Theatre in Cornwall. I’ve been there a couple of times over the years, but never to watch a performance. 

Today that all changed.

I booked the tickets for the one man show ‘A Tempest in a Teacup’ months ago. The review said that it was a storytelling performance of the tempest for adults and children and at a fiver a ticket for an hour long show seemed just about right.

For once the gods smiled on us. We awoke to a beautiful morning and set off to the Minack picking up some chilled bubbles on the way and passing standing stone circles and Celtic crosses as we slipped deeper and deeper into the real Cornwall. The hour long journey only took an hour for once, so we arrived with plenty of time to pick our seats in the grassy amphitheatre.

The plants clinging to the rocks were amazing and we found some great seats at the top of the semi-circular stepped theatre. We even remembered our cushions. What a great place, what a great day, what a great and unbelievable view, and what a great feeling to finally be here at last. As I sipped my prosecco and ate my croissant I felt elated. I had actually done it. I was here.

The performance by John Brolly was brilliant. A storytelling of the play with hat changing, funny voice changes, impromptu comments, humour, cup and saucer props, and audience participation. Shakespeare would have loved it, the kids certainly did and I loved it too. It made me feel like a child at the panto again, but at the same time I got the full Tempest story (one I didn’t really know before) in a little under an hour with the Atlantic ocean as a backdrop.

The time flew and it was all over too soon. But I am so happy that I did it and that the sun shone just like it did in my daydream of my day at the Minack. That daydream has now been made real and I’d really love to do it again one day. Perhaps I might if I’m lucky, but if I don’t the memory will stay with me for ever.

If you get down Land's End way then visit the Minack. If you can get to see some theatre even better. This place was built almost single handed by a woman on a mission, bringing the sand for her concrete up from the beach below. What an achievement and what a gift to us all.