Film and Theatre in Devon and Cornwall

With this exceptional heatwave, now seems a perfect time to book tickets for an evening of open-air theatre. So chill the fizz, pack the picnic and grab your blanket for an evening’s entertainment.

And where better to start than the magical Minack Theatre. Starting tonight is Sense & Sensibility, running until 29th June. Then Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard is on from 2nd to 6th July, followed by something entirely different: Tom Stoppard’s comedy On The Razzle from 9th to 13th July. July rounds off with Leonard Bernstein’s Candide which runs from 16th to 20th.

Macbeth is being performed by the Barbican Theatre at Residence One Garden at Royal William Yard, Plymouth from 31 July to 11 August.

More Shakespeare and Jane Austen are on offer at Killerton House near Exeter with a production of Pride and Prejudice on 12th July and The Tempest on 31st July. The Tempest will also be on at Pentillie Castle, St Mellion on 29th July.

The outstanding Illyria Outdoor Theatre’s summer season will be in full swing at many venues across the South West including:

• The Merchant of Venice at Arlington Court, Barnstaple on 28th July, Sterts Theatre, Liskeard on 31st July and again at The Vicarage, Great Torrington on 11th August
• The Hound of the Baskervilles at Castle Drogo on 5th August and Carn Marth Amphitheatre, Redruth on 25th August
• The Adventures of Doctor Dolittle at Penlee Park Theatre, Penzance on 24th July, Hartland Abbey on 10th August and Bedruthan Hotel, Mawgan Porth on 16th August
• The Pirates of Penzance at Coletone Fishacre, Kingswear on 29th July and Hartland Abbey on 8th August

Hartland Abbey is also showing David Walliams’ The Midnight Gang on 15th August and The Winter’s Tale on 27th August.

Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella came to the Theatre Royal in Plymouth last week and I don’t think any of the packed audience would have been disappointed.

Prokofiev composed the music for the ballet during the Second World War and it’s against this backdrop that Bourne set this production. The bleak, grim reality of the War was everywhere but the contrast of the fairytale story never reduced it to a cliché. The Pathé filmreel, the drab greyness of the stepfamily’s house, the destruction of the Café de Paris, a scene in the Underground and drab, wet London above, the startling sound of exploding shells; all evoked the grim reality of war-torn London.

Against this background enter Cinderella and her handsome but injured RAF pilot.  What I so like about Bourne’s ballets is how he brings these characters to life. Even at the outset, Cinderella shows a bit of spark, mimicking her stepmother and dancing with a tailor’s dummy, somehow making it entirely credible that this glasses-wearing, plain, downtrodden girl can transform into the radiant beauty who literally shines and dominates in her white and shimmering-silver ballgown and who then spends the night with her pilot.

The spiteful step-mother always has a drink in her hand, the step-sisters are vain and empty-headed, one of the step-brothers has a foot fetish – all wonderful characters in their own right.

And then there’s the Angel, traditionally the fairy godmother. This is a male angel who hovers over the stage, wearing a silver suit, ethereal and other-wordly in this grey war setting. I think this was my favourite character in fact. Somehow, his dancing seemed magically ‘light’.

I can’t wait to see Bourne’s iconic Swan Lake which is coming to Plymouth in September (22nd-29th) – tickets are on sale now but they’ll sell out fast.

The National Theatre’s Hedda Gabler will be playing at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth from 2nd to 7th October. Henrik Ibsen’s classic play is in a modern setting for this production which is now touring the UK after a sold out run in London.

The role of Hedda, sometimes referred to as ‘the female Hamlet’ and one of the greatest female dramatic parts, is played by Lizzy Watts. Written in the 1890s and set in Victorian Norway with all the social constraints on women that entails, the play explores the marriage between a beautiful aristocratic but manipulative and destructive Hedda and her middle-class, boring husband. Despite being written over a hundred years ago it remains a very modern play so it will be interesting to see it in its current-day setting.

I know it’s looking ahead a little but I was really excited to see that Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella is on at the Theatre Royal early next year but only for a few days (30th January to 3rd February) and if there’s one thing I’d recommend seeing this has to be it – but book early because it will sell out. I saw Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty when it came to Plymouth and it was one of the best things I’ve ever seen on stage. Everything about it was spectacular: it’s Gothic setting and story, the choreography, the dancing, the costumes, the set. Just exhilarating.

Back to the Wharf, this time to see My Cousin Rachel with my mum. Perfect way to while away a couple of hours on a wet Friday afternoon.

Also fun to spot the local connections: although the novel is based in Cornwall some of the outdoor scenes were actually shot at the Flete Estate in the South Hams in Devon. If you want to enjoy the same unspoilt locations you can stay in one of the holiday cottages on the Estate and visit the beautiful Mothecombe beach.