The Minack in August: piskies, a Roman thriller and a hat warning

The Minack Theatre has spent July doing the thing it does best in a heatwave, which is reminding everyone that a cliff-top amphitheatre with almost no shade is a glorious place to watch a play and an unforgiving place to forget your sun hat. The sun has been out over Porthcurno all month, temperatures have climbed, and the theatre is now issuing gentle instructions to anyone heading down to the granite seats.

Tickets, meanwhile, are going the way of a Cornish cream tea on a hot afternoon. The Minack says its summer shows and daytime visiting slots are selling fast enough that turning up on spec is a risk, so booking ahead is the safer bet. You can see everything coming up at the theatre on its website.

Book ahead, and treat it like a sun-trap

The advice for visitors is practical. The Minack is a sun-trap, so the theatre is asking people to wear sunscreen and a hat, bring a water bottle that can be topped up on site, and wear a light shirt or top rather than swimwear, which the theatre would rather not see. That applies whether you are booked in for a show or just visiting to wander the theatre and its garden.

For younger visitors, the family storytelling events run at 4pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays through the school holidays. They last under an hour and are pitched as a first taste of the theatre for very young children, though the Minack reckons adults enjoy them too. They are popular enough that booking ahead is again the message.

📷Dear Evan Hansen - Credit: Minack Theatre

Dear Evan Hansen returns with the British Theatre Academy

The British Theatre Academy, a Minack regular and a multiple winner of the Minack Trophy, is back with the Tony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen, running from 27 to 31 July with 3pm and 8pm performances. The show follows a high-school senior who is mistaken for the friend of a classmate who has died, and finds himself caught in a fiction that quickly grows beyond his control. It carries a score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and deals directly with themes of identity and mental health, so the Minack lists it as suitable for ages 10 and over. Availability is limited across all performances.

📷Minack Academies - Credit: Minack Theatre

Cornwall’s young performers take Animal Farm on the road

The theatre has just wrapped a showcase week of work performed by young people from across Cornwall, including a sold-out production of Animal Farm from its own Acting Academy. That production is now touring venues around the county for the rest of the month, and the Minack is encouraging anyone nearby to catch its young cast at one of the tour dates.

For Cornish families whose children are drawn to any part of theatre, the Minack Academies hold auditions in September. There are four of them, covering Acting, Musical Theatre, Events and Technical, so the training reaches behind the scenes as well as centre stage. The Technical and Events academies are the newer pair, launched in 2025 to cover sound, lighting, stage management and live event production. Each runs as a year-long programme and is offered free through the theatre’s Taking Part scheme.

What’s on in August

📷Anything Goes - Credit: Minack Theatre

Anything Goes

BROS Theatre Company brings Cole Porter’s transatlantic musical to the deck of the S.S. American from 3 to 7 August, with performances at 3pm and 8pm. Reno Sweeney, a gangster in hiding and a stowaway in love set off a chain of shipboard misadventures, disguises and confusion, all set to Porter’s score. It runs around two hours 40 minutes including an interval, is suitable for ages 8 and over, and the Minack has flagged it as almost sold out. Tickets are £12 to £36. Full details are on the Anything Goes page.

📷Julius Caesar - Credit: Minack Theatre

Julius Caesar

Derby Shakespeare Theatre Company sets Shakespeare’s political thriller in ancient Rome from 10 to 13 August, again at 3pm and 8pm. Power, loyalty and betrayal collide as a group of conspirators decide that removing their leader is the only way to save the Republic, with consequences none of them foresee. Told in traditional Roman costume, it runs about two and a half hours including an interval and is suitable for ages 8 and over. Tickets are £12 to £30, with more on the Julius Caesar page.

📷Goodnight Mister Tom - Credit: Minack Theatre

Goodnight Mister Tom

A Minack Theatre production of David Wood’s stage adaptation of Michelle Magorian’s novel runs from 17 August into early September, with 2.30pm and 7.30pm performances. Ten-year-old William Beech is evacuated from wartime London to live with the reclusive widower Tom Oakley, and their unlikely friendship grows until secrets from William’s past threaten to pull it apart. It carries themes of abuse, death and bereavement and is listed for ages 10 and over. Tickets are £12 to £30, with details on the Goodnight Mister Tom page.

📷The Piskie in the Garden - Credit: Minack Theatre

The Piskie in the Garden

John Brolly’s one-man show runs at 4pm until 28 August. An old gardener is woken late at night by strange noises from his potting shed, which can only mean one thing, a piskie has moved into the garden. Told through puppetry, music and storytelling, it is around an hour long, aimed at ages 5 and over, and the gardener spends most of it being outwitted. More is on the Piskie in the Garden page.

📷Journey to the Stars - Credit: Minack Theatre

Two from Squashbox Theatre

Squashbox Theatre has a pair of family shows on the daytime bill. Journey to the Stars travels across the solar system, past the stars and out towards the edge of space and time, mixing puppetry, live music and comedy with a good deal of astronomy. It runs at 4pm until 5 August, lasts about an hour and suits ages 5 and over, with tickets from £7 to £14. Picking up as that one finishes, The Sea Show opens on 10 August, a mix of puppet show, natural history and comedy featuring a mermaid, a reformed seagull and a sea captain, with tall tales, slapstick, live music and songs. It runs around 50 minutes and is also for ages 5 and up.

The September academy auditions are the theatre’s next call for Cornwall’s young performers, with monologues for the actors and a song and a short dance class for the musical theatre hopefuls.

📷The Sea Show - Credit: Minack Theatre