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ROUGH COAST PROVIDES ARTS BOOST

A brand new community arts organisation, Rough Coast, is being set up to take the helm of two major theatre projects happening in 2009.

Summer 2008 saw the first ever St Ives Community Play being staged on the Island and the project has been hailed such a success that everyone involved would like to see it happen again. The 2009 production will be Romeo & Juliet. Director of that production, Sarah Lincoln, has also been approached by The Minack Theatre who are keen to establish a group of local actors who will perform as part of the Minack’s Summer Season each year. The project for 2009 will be a performance of Nick Darke’s, The King of Prussia in collaboration with the Darke Visions festival. The play itself is set around Prussia Cove and the stretch of coastline around Penzance reaching as far as the Minack Theatre, making the open air venue the perfect location.

As per last year the production in St Ives is open to all and it is envisaged that with extra funding, will involve a large cast and extensive community involvement across all ages, with an open to all policy. The collaboration between Rough Coast and The Minack is very much about creating a company that represents the highest possible standards for theatre in the local community.

Sarah Lincoln says ‘In my experience Cornwall is awash with both professional and amateur creative talent and I am very much looking forward to working hand in hand with both. I love seeing the personal journeys, collaborations and friendships that come from large community theatre projects. I am equally looking forward to recruiting a compact, strong and versatile company for ‘The King of Prussia’, the standard will be high, high enough I hope to see the production go beyond The Minack and although only an amateur company in context, I’m expecting great things. From my perspective the sun is already shining next summer!’

Phil Jackson, Theatre Manager of The Minack adds ‘we are delighted to be able to support the creation of ‘Rough Coast’. The Minack was founded by Rowena Cade as a venue for local performers and we are keen to support the development of a local community theatre company for all ages that can meet the high artistic expectations of the Minack audience.

Anyone wishing to know more, get involved or keep up to date, can visit any of the following websites, www.minack.com , www.stivesplay.co.uk , www.sarahlincoln.co.uk.