Wildworks returns with a new Cornwall banger racetrack comedy-drama show

A Cornwall theater company nationally renowned for its location-specific productions is returning to its home county this summer with a comedy-drama set in the middle of a racetrack. Wildworks will be hosting the latest The Kneebone Cadillac show at United Downs Raceway this July.

The Kneebone Cadillac features the Kneebone siblings, Slick, Dwight and Maddy, who have a major setback when their junkyard owner father, Jed, shocks everyone by leaving his beloved 1958 Cadillac Eldorado to his only daughter .

Rather than cash in on the prized but battered car—which may or may not have once belonged to Elvis Presley—fiery Maddy is determined to get it back on the road and take on all comers in the United Downs Boneshaker stock car race. Old family feuds don’t die quickly, and soon Maddy’s dream of success in a male-dominated world puts the community on a collision course into chaos.

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Wildworks said Kneebone Cadillac’s funny Cornish dialogue, disturbing cast of characters and serious post-industrial location will resonate with many banger racing fans in Cornwall and beyond, while shedding light on life in the county miles away from postcard clichés.

For Cornwall-born playwright Carl Grose, setting the drama at the racetrack that sparked his imagination when he first visited as a ten-year-old boy with his father is a dream come true. He said: “I’ve always been obsessed with the area, that slightly foreign Cornwall, and I have such vivid memories of the circuit because my dad used to take me there.

“I loved that world – noisy and smelly, with all that grease and petrol burning. With the Kneebone Cadillac being staged there, it comes full circle for me from when I was an excited kid.”

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Carl and Kyla Goodey first worked together as apprentices 30 years ago with Kneehigh Theater Company and are collaborating again on a Wildworks production on home turf. Carl added: “It’s great that The Kneebone Cadillac will be seen in Cornwall for the first time thanks to Wildworks and it’s great that Kyla is the director. She understands so much and understands that this is a story for Cornwall now.”

Kyla assembled a stellar lineup of local acting and production talent and worked closely with track owners to create the most dramatic set in an arena that has hosted stock car racing for more than 50 years. She said: “Comedy is my first love and what Carl has written is timely. It’s about a young woman’s ambition to succeed in a man’s world and find a way to make it through.

“It’s a fast and furious Cornish show with brilliant dialogue and tons of dramatic twists. It feels like life right now could do with a little lightening, and there’s a lot of lightening in the Kneebone Cadillac.”

The drama arose from another acclaimed Carl Grose play, Superstition Mountain, a dark comedy about three St Day brothers. BBC Radio 4’s production of The Kneebone Cadillac was first broadcast in 2011.

Wildworks Artistic Director Mydd Pharo said: “These are exciting times – bringing the brilliant The Kneebone Cadillac to a Cornwall audience and launching a dynamic new way to connect with our community through membership. Our hope is that members will become ambassadors, advocating for us online and in public, spreading the word, inviting friends and looking for ways for Wildworks to flourish as a positive creative force for good.”

For more information on Wildworks productions and subscriptions, visit wildworks.org.uk/grow-wild. Advance ticket sales for The Kneebone Cadillac go on sale to GROW WILD members on May 6th, and general ticket sales begin on May 13th.