Black Country-born Chris Passey and Andrew Exeter are part of the creative team bringing Jason Robert Brown’s iconic 'The Last Five Years' to Cornwall's outdoor Minack Theatre from 15th – 19th September 2020.


Produced by David Jenkins, for Brilliant Theatre, alongside Passey and Ben MacSkimming, the venture will see award-winning director and co-founder of The Black British Theatre Awards, Omar F Okai, direct a new production of the Drama Desk winning musical.

Alongside Okai, the production’s creative team includes Musical Direction by Leo Munby (Gypsy) Set and Lighting Designs by Andrew Exeter (High Fidelity) with Associate Designer Natalia Alvarez (Paperboy) and Assistant Director Rebecca Wicking (Hair, Rent).

The Last Five Years, ran off-Broadway in 2002 and was turned into a film in 2014 starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan. It's an emotionally powerful and intimate musical about two New Yorkers in their twenties, who fall in and out of love over the course of five years. The show's unconventional structure consists of Cathy telling her story backwards while Jamie tells his story chronologically. Executive Director of the Minack, Zoë Curnow, said:

“I am delighted that David, Chris and Ben have secured the rights to bring The Last Five Years to the Minack in September. We were really keen to have a musical in our amended 2020 programme and really look forward to welcoming them all to the Cornish cliffs!” 

The Last Five Years will be staged with a socially distanced audience and a reduced capacity for the auditorium. However the creative team are hopeful that this will help to start the resurgence of the genre in the UK after a number of venues have been forced to keep their doors closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Okai added:

“We need to start looking to the future of theatre and I am so happy to be directing and working with a brilliant team on creating a fresh new look at The Last Five Years and bringing it to the Minack Theatre. Live theatre will be back and this is the start.”

The Last Five Years will be staged at the Minack Theatre in Penzance from the 15th – 19th September 2020. 
Casting is to be announced and tickets are on sale now from minack.com.