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THINGS TO DO WITH THE FAMILY IN CORNWALL 2024

There’s something magical about taking your little ones to the theatre… A place where switching off devices and living in the moment is part of the experience! And trust us when we say there’s no better feeling than watching your child’s face light up when their favourite characters come to life on stage.

So if you’re still searching for something fun and different to do with the family this year in Cornwall, we have just the thing…


Meet your favourite characters!

TUE 27 – THU 29 AUG, VARIOUS TIMES

THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

MON 21 – TUE 22 OCT, VARIOUS TIMES

Photography by Russ Rowland


Go on an adventure…

From the makers of Gangsta Granny comes another David Walliams classic!

DAVID WALLIAMS’ AWFUL AUNTIE

THU 27 – SUN 30 JUN, VARIOUS TIMES

David Walliams Awful Auntie Live on Stage by The Birmingham Stage Company

Join our Youth Programmes…

Our popular Youth Theatre and Youth Dance groups are the cornerstone of HfC’s Get Creative outreach work, which engages more than 10,000 young Cornish people each year!

Do you have a passion for performance? Want to sing or dance on stage? Then Hall for Cornwall’s Get Creative scheme and our Young Companies may be for you.

Find out more here.

While most of our youth dance and theatre terms are well underway, it’s not too late to join and we’re always happy to chat to late joiners. Email [email protected] to register your interest.


Want to be first in the know? Sign up to our newsletter and we’ll tell you when new shows are coming – before everyone else!

Sign up here!

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THE QUEEN OF CRIME RETURNS TO HALL FOR CORNWALL…

On 15th September 1890, the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, was born. Author of at least 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, including And Then There Were None, The Mousetrap, and The Murder on the Orient Express. Christie is celebrated around the world for her genre-defining work. The Guinness Book of World Records names Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, as her novels have sold more than two billion copies!

As a creator of mysteries, it’s no surprise that this sensational writer was an enigma herself…

“Very few of us are what we seem.” – Agatha Christie

Image © The Christie Archive Trust

Surfing in Hawaii, an obsession with fast cars – her life was filled with one surprise after another. Born into a wealthy upper-middle classic family in Torquay, Devon, Christie was mostly home-schooled. At age 5, she taught herself to read, and found a love of storytelling – it was around this time she began writing her own tales. As she grew up and found her voice, her early stories received a total of 6 rejections, but finally, in 1920, her talent was recognised when The Mysterious Affair at Styles – featuring Belgian detective Hercule Poirot – was published.

As her fame began to take off, she longed for a way to explore other writing styles, inventing the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. Under this name, which she wrote 6 semi-autobiographical novels exploring human psychology in greater depth. Her daughter Rosalind Hicks described them as “bitter-sweet stories about love”, and nobody made the connection between Christie and ‘Mary’ for over 20 years.

She married her first husband in 1914 – and had one child – before divorcing in 1928 when he met somebody else. Following the breakdown of her marriage and her mother’s death in 1926, Christie’s mysteries became a reality when she made international headlines by going missing for eleven days. Her car was discovered in a quarry, and after an anonymous tip, police discovered her in a hotel in Harrogate, where she is alleged to have been staying under the name of her husband’s mistress. She claims to have had amnesia, and cannot remember the period of disappearance – to this day, historians argue about where she went and what happened to her.

Articles from the Surrey Advertiser and Surrey Times at the time of Agatha Christie’s disappearance in 1926 (Image: Surrey Advertiser)

In 1930, she re-married an archeologist, and spent several months each year visiting him in the Middle East. Her time here further fueled her first-hand knowledge of this profession which makes an appearance in her stories. During both World Wars, she worked in hospital dispensaries, discovering the uses of poisons that featured in many of her novels, short stories, and plays.

In 1955, Christie became the first person to win the Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master Award – and in the same year, Witness for the Prosecution received an Edgar Award for best play. Then in 2013, 600 professional novelists from the Crime Writers’ Association voted her as the best crime writer of all time, and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd as the best crime novel ever.

Her novel And Then There Were None is one of the best-selling books of all time (approximately 100 million copies have been sold!) and has been adapted for TV, Film and theatre. In 2024, we welcomed a new adaptation to the Cornwall Playhouse, directed by Lucy Bailey (Witness for the Prosecution, now in its 6th year in London).

Continuing along the Hall of Fame, her stage play The Mousetrap holds the world record for the longest theatre run. It opened in the West End on 25 November 1952 and ran until September 2018 with more than 27,500 performances! In 2023, we were thrilled to welcome the production to Hall for Cornwall in it’s 70th year of touring.

We’re delighted to welcome yet another Christie classic to the Cornwall Playhouse this year.

Her beloved thriller The Murder on the Orient Express, one of Agatha Christie’s greatest literary achievements – and starring the one and only Hercule Poirot – storms on our stage from TUE 19 – SAT 23 NOV 2024!

Agatha Christie has inspired generations of crime writers, and countless adaptations of her work, for television, radio, video games, graphic novels, and more than 30 feature films.

Whether you’re new to Christie or love a good mystery, we’re delighted to continue to welcome her greatest works to the Cornwall Playhouse.