Building for the future

In the 1950s Rowena created the first dressing rooms for her actors, a single-storey building clinging to the cliff-face.  Even though few people would ever see it, she decorated the façade with designs of fish and scallop shells and created beautiful arched windows, looking out over Porthcurno Bay. In 2011 this building became unsafe and the backstage area now contains a much larger building with space for technical work and storage as well as a big rehearsal area and spacious dressing rooms.  The new façade has been etched in Rowena’s own style.

Our technical facilities have evolved dramatically.  In the early days, the ticket office was a picnic table in Rowena’s garden, now we have online booking.  Battery lamps and car headlights lit the first productions.  Today, our complex lighting system is capable of wonderful effects, though moonrise over the sea is still the greatest lightshow.  We also have a comprehensive sound system, ensuring that wherever you sit in the theatre you can hear everything that happens on stage. 

Since Rowena’s death the structures of the stage and auditorium she built have largely remained the same.  But around them we have extended and added new features to meet the needs of modern audiences and our large visitor numbers.  We’ve put an accessible balcony at the top of the auditorium, so that people who are less mobile can enjoy our shows.  We’ve also added a café with breath-taking views of the sea and beautiful sub-tropical gardens for our visitors to enjoy.  But as you gaze down from the top of the theatre at the winding steps, the curved terraces and the chequerboard pattern of the stage with the rocks and sea tumbled behind it, you can experience the magic that Rowena created, that has entranced people for ninety years.