A Round Town: Theatre in the Round in Scarborough (1955 - 2009)
The North Yorkshire seaside town of Scarborough is historically significant in relation to the development of professional theatre in the round in the UK.It is home to the UK's first - and longest running - professional theatre in the round company, home to the globally renowned playwright Alan Ayckbourn, has one of the longest new playwriting traditions in the UK and was a proving ground for the theatre pioneer Stephen Joseph's influential ideas on new theatre forms.
Since 1955, theatre in the round has played a hugely significant part in the cultural heritage and development of Scarborough and this website looks at the history of theatre in the round in the town, its achievements, plays and people in its three homes over the company's first five decades from 1955 to 2009.
This is a complementary site to Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website and, inarguably, to understand Alan Ayckbourn's career in a wider context, you have to examine and understand his inextricable connection with theatre in the round in Scarborough.
This website, created by Alan Ayckbourn's archivist and theatre historian, Simon Murgatroyd, celebrates the cultural contribution and legacy of theatre in the round, Stephen Joseph and Alan Ayckbourn to the town of Scarborough.
All research & original material for this website
© Simon Murgatroyd, all rights reserved. Contact the website.
A Round Town is dedicated to the memory of Albert-Reiner Glaap for his passion and knowledge
with regard to Alan Ayckbourn and theatre in the round and many joyful hours spent with him in Scarborough.
Header image: a postcard promoting Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, circa. 1955. © Studio Theatre Ltd and held in the Ayckbourn Archive at the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York.