Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre (1955 - 1976)
Theatre in the Round launched in Scarborough in 1955 in the Concert Room on the first floor of Scarborough Library. Stephen Joseph created the UK's first professional theatre-in-the-round company and also, arguably, the longest-running UK new writing company (opening a year before the Royal Court).Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre - to give it its full-title - opened on 14 July 1956 with a summer season of four new plays by new writers, all performed in-the-round. It was a pioneering venture, not least because it was in a regional town with no notable history of drama-based theatre.
The company would stay in the library for twenty years, surviving closure for a year and the death of its founder before Stephen Joseph's protégé, Alan Ayckbourn, took the reins, steering it for almost four decades.
These pages tell the stories behind the company, the venue, the plays and the people at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre.
Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre (1955 - 1976)
All research for this section by Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce the articles or images without permission of the copyright holder.