Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre: 1971

This page contains a more detailed guide to significant events concerning Scarborough's Theatre in the Round at the Library in 1971

1971

1971 At A Glance

Artistic Director
Caroline Smith

Summer Season Dates
14 June - 11 September

Performances
Mon to Sat at 8pm
Wed at 2.30pm

Ticket Prices
45p
Concessions: 25p
Matinees: 25p
  • Caroline Smith is appointed Director of Productions for the summer season; she is the company's first 'Artistic Director' to be paid and receives £35 a week to encompass rehearsals and the summer season.
  • March: The Arts Council of Great Britain increases its annual grant to Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre from £1,400 to £2,500 to offset a national wage-rise for actors agreed by Equity.
  • April: The annual amateur season at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre - which preceded the summer professional season - leads to a complaint from the Cresta Players about a financial loss that year; this being despite being told beforehand their production expenses were too high and they would be unable to turn a profit!
  • With Decimal Day on 15 February 1971, the UK's national currency converted to a decimal system and all the ticket prices changed to reflect this.
  • 14 June: The summer season opens with Dylan Thomas's Under Milkwood.
  • 8 July: World premiere of Alan Ayckbourn's Time & Time Again; this is regarded as the playwright's first foray into the tragi-comic genre he will be most associated with.
  • Summer: Time & Time Again is the first Ayckbourn play to feature a water feature and one night, the garden pond develops a leak dripping water into the reading room below the Concert Room where Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre is based. The Libraries Committee is unamused.
  • 5 August: Howard Brenton's Revenge opens at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre with a warning given to audiences about its violence and language; this leads to the vicar of St Martin's Church writing a letter of complaint on behalf of the Scarborough Council of Churches to the Town Council and the Libraries Committee.
  • 14 August: The architect George Alderson reports that the cost of buying the Christian Science Church for the new theatre would be £25,000 with an additional £50,000 needed to convert it to a theatre space; at that point the theatre had raised £18,539 towards the project.
  • 1 December: In a report on the summer season to the Library Committee, Ken Boden notes the production of Revenge was a financial disaster, largely due to the language: "I issued a warning to the public - it was an honest warning and not a publicity stunt. There were many four letter words spoken during the action of the play and I did not want anyone going into the theatre not knowing this. I believe that my honest effort killed the Box Office but I maintain it was the best thing to do."
Article by and copyright of Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce this article without permission of the copyright holder.