St Just Ordinalia 2026

St Just Ordinalia is a unique community theatre project on an epic scale, staging the Cornish Ordinalia trilogy of Mystery Plays in one of the oldest working amphitheatres in Great Britain - the Plen an Gwari (Playing Place or Place of the Play in Cornish) in St Just, Cornwall.

The Ordinalia was last staged in St Just in September 2021, with a cast, choir and crew of over 230 volunteers, supported by a paid professional production team. Audiences of almost 6000 people experienced these very special Medieval Cornish plays being brought to life.

The three Ordinalia plays are the oldest surviving trilogy of plays in Great Britain, and one of the oldest written examples of the Cornish Language. The plays were written primarily in Cornish with stage directions in Latin, and include stage plans detailing how the plays were performed in the round.

There are only three surviving Ordinalia manuscripts - an original fifteenth century manuscript, held in the Bodleian Library Oxford, a second in the Bodleian Library, and a third in the National Library of Wales.

You can read more about the history of the Ordinalia plays on our website, and sign up to hear all our news going forward on our mailing list.

Photo by Steve Tanner, St Just Ordinalia 2021, The Resurrection

St Just Ordinalia is a project organised by St Just and District Trust CIO, a charity whose aim is to support heritage and cultural projects which highlight the significance of St Just in Penwith.

The St Just Ordinalia is more than the performance of three plays, it is an educational, community-engaged heritage, language and arts project, providing voluntary and paid opportunities to hundreds of people. It is a flagship of Cornish culture and the Cornish language that is vital to the celebration and development of our heritage.

As Pol Hodge, Former Grand Bard of the Gorsedh Kernow, has said:

“the Ordinalia is quite simply the root, spirit and soul of Cornwall.”

We hope that you will help us to make the St Just Ordinalia happen in 2026!

Photo by Steve Tanner, St Just Ordinalia 2021, Cast and Crew

Why we are Crowdfunding:

We can use the funds you donate to our Crowdfunder as ‘match funding’ for grant applications to Arts Council England, National Heritage Lottery and other potential funding bodies. 

We need substantial grant funding to make St Just Ordinalia happen. To effectively manage a project of this scale we need a large paid professional team, money for materials, infrastructure, marketing and much more.

That's why £7000 is the minimum we need to start building our match funding to a sufficient level. Any amount we raise above our target would be a great bonus and used to bolster our match funding to a higher level. 

How we will say ‘thank you’ for your donation:

We have a range of unique and exciting rewards on offer for donations between £15 and £400. 

You might want the rewards for yourself, or maybe for your friends or family as a unique Christmas gift!

IMPORTANT NOTE: If we do not raise sufficient funds to stage the Ordinalia in 2026, we will not give up!  All money raised through this Crowdfunder will be used to match fund all subsequent bids to stage the St Just Ordinalia.

Photo by Steve Tanner, St Just Ordinalia 2021, Origo Mundi