Workshops stir interest in medieval Cornish plays

The St Just Ordinalia was last performed in full in 2021

Ambitious plans are being drawn up to stage a trilogy of medieval plays in west Cornwall for the first time since 2021.

The St Just Ordinalia is regarded as a crucial part of Cornish culture and the Cornish language.

Workshops are being staged this weekend in St Just to introduce potential performers to the delights of speaking and singing in Cornish.

The aim is to stage the full cycle in 2026, using one of the original locations where the plays would have been performed historically.

'It's epic theatre'

The three plays are titled 'The Creation of the World', 'The Passion of Christ' and 'The Resurrection of our Lord'

The original manuscripts that make up the Ordinalia cycle date back to the 14th Century.

Mary Ann Bloomfield, the Chair of the St Just and District Trust Charitable Interest Organisation, which looks after the St Just Ordinalia, said: "These works are so important.

"These are the first written examples of the Cornish language, recorded in the 1300s by monks in Penryn.

"The plays themselves were performed by the community all over Cornwall. It's epic theatre and it's about as Cornish as you can get."

The three surviving Ordinalia manuscripts are held at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and the National Library of Wales

In September 2021 the three plays were performed in full across a week to crowds of nearly 6,000 people.

Most of the performance was in English, with passages in the Cornish language.

The location of the performance was equally important to supporters of Cornish culture and history.

The outdoor amphitheatre in St Just is one of only two surviving examples of a 'Plen an Gwari' - which translates as 'playing place' in the Cornish language.

The Plen an Gwari in St Just, one of two remaining open air Cornish amphitheatres in operation

It's hoped the free weekend workshops will offer a fun introduction to performing in the Cornish language.

Mrs Bloomfield said: "What we would love to do is perform the full cycle in their original setting every five years.

"Quite a lot of people don't know about the Ordinalia and don't even know the St Just site is there.

"It is a religious trilogy but you don't have to be religious to get involved. We tell human stories."

The booked-out workshops have been funded by Cornwall Council.