William Smettem

It's worth noting that two of the key figures in the history of theatre in the round in Scarborough are the men who ran the library during Stephen Joseph's time with the company: William Smettem and Mervyn Edwards.

During this period - until 1974 essentially - the role of Director of Libraries, Museums and Art Gallery was an extremely powerful and influential one in the town. They had responsibility for, essentially, the entirety of the town's civic cultural venues. In the case of Scarborough, the town's main library and other subsidiary libraries, the Rotunda Museum and the Natural History Museum at Woodend as well as the civic art gallery in The Crescent.

When Stephen Joseph initially enquired about hiring the Concert Room at Scarborough Library, he contacted William Smettem, who was in his final year in the position. As mentioned below, he had transformed the town's cultural offerings and had a great interest in art and culture. It has long been suggested the only reason William agreed to let Stephen hire the room was because he was retiring and had nothing tomorrow lose. Arguably, this does a huge disservice to William and his interests and ambitions. More likely, he saw the opportunity to end his career with something radical and innovative for the town; certainly his correspondence with Stephen indicates a man fully invested in the project and interested in what Stephen was trying to achieve.

He also went to considerable lengths to facilitate Stephen's ambitions, not least by hugely reducing the rent for the hire of the room over the summer. Without this reduction, either Stephen would never have opened Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre or, more likely, it would have lost so much money after the inaugural season, it would have been impossible to continue.

As a result, William should be regarded as a very significant figure in the history of theatre in the round in Scarborough and so too his successor, Mervyn Edwards. He ran Scarborough Library from the summer of 1955 until 1974 and, again, he went above and beyond in facilitating Stephen by arranging grants and subsidies for the company as well as continuing the extraordinarily generous rental terms. He was also on very good terms with Stephen and they frequently conversed about expanding the theatre's role in the town and the potential of a - unrealised - dream of a civic theatre in the town. Both William and Mervyn made substantial but largely unrecognised contributions to Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre and its survival during its formative years.

It is worth noting that when control of the libraries moved from the town level to county level in 1974, everything fell apart very quickly. Despite the company's established success and the association with Alan Ayckbourn, little regard was given to the company and within two years, it had been given its marching orders from the library and had to find a new home.

Extract from A Theatrical Revolution by Simon Murgatroyd
"It’s worth considering William Smettem, who was equally a pioneer in the seaside resort’s cultural development.

"The town [Scarborough] had only adopted the 1850 Libraries Bill in 1925 - which gave boroughs the power to establish free public libraries. Smettem was appointed the first Borough Librarian in 1929. The town’s first civic library opened in 1930 and demand was so huge, he immediately oversaw an ambitious development and expansion of the venue.

"Over the coming years, he also oversaw the council take over running of the town’s then only existing museum, the Rotunda, the later development of the natural history museum in The Crescent in the former home of the Sitwell family as well as the opening of the town’s first civic art gallery, also in The Crescent.

"Over 25 years, he played no small part in transforming Scarborough's municipal cultural offerings. It is perhaps no surprise then that he regarded Stephen Joseph’s proposals with an open mind and was supportive of bringing a radical theatre experiment into the library’s Concert Room - formerly the Harrison Room. Perhaps he even had his eye on a future where this might be the basis for a civic theatre in the town."
A Theatrical Revolution: Celebrating Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre by Simon Murgatroyd (Lulu Books, 2025)
Article by and copyright of Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce this article without permission of the copyright holder.