Louis de Bernières’ Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

Louis de Bernières’ Captain Corelli’s Mandolin adapted for the stage by Rona Munro

Presented by Shattered Windscreen Theatre Company

Louis de Bernière’s Greek Island epic about love across the barricades was such a phenomenon in 1994 that the book’s blue and white cover is instantly recognizable to many. It became a best-seller and a film version was released in 2001, starring Penelope Cruz and Nicolas Cage and featuring John Hurt as Dr Iannis. It was first adapted for the stage by Mike Maran in 2011 as a collaboration between the Kote Marjanishvili Theatre, Georgia and the Mercury Theatre, Colchester and it combined live actors and puppetry.

This version, by award-winning Scottish writer, Rona Munro premiered in 2019, manages to compress this epic tale into a tight two hours. Set in 1941, on the Greek island of Kefalonia, the story centres on an island community, subjected to Italian and German occupation. It is a gripping tale of love and humanity struggling against the horrors of war.

The story has an epic sweep, ideally suited to the Minack stage (and anything the elements might throw at it!) and will be supported by music and song.

Shattered Windscreen’s previous productions at the Minack include Arabian Nights, Les Enfants du Paradis, Peter Pan, The True Story of Martin Guerre, Coram Boy, Cyrano de Bergerac, Wild Oats, and more recently, The Grapes of Wrath (Minack Trophy – winner 2015), The Wicked Lady 2017, I, Don Quixote (Minack Trophy – runner up 2019), and in 2021, The Thirty Nine Steps.

This amateur production of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin is presented by arrangement with Nick Hern Books.