Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round: 1996
This page contains a more detailed guide to significant events concerning Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round in 1996. It also covers significant formative events at the company's present home the Stephen Joseph Theatre, during its inaugural year.1996
Year-by-Year
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- Early 1996: It is confirmed the new theatre at the site of Scarborough's former Odeon cinema will be called the Stephen Joseph Theatre after Alan Ayckbourn pays £400,000 for the right to name the building, which is named after his most influential mentor and the founder of the UK's first professional theatre in the round company in Scarborough - Stephen Joseph.
- Early 1996: Stephen Wood is appointed General Administrator of the Stephen Joseph Theatre.
- 5 January: Opening night of Just Between Ourselves by Alan Ayckbourn and directed by Robin Herford. This will be the final production to be staged at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round.
- 31 January: Scarborough Evening News journalist Simon Murgatroyd reports the new Stephen Joseph Theatre will open on 24 April 1996 with By Jeeves, a revised version of Alan Ayckbourn and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Jeeves.
- 17 January: It is reported in the Scarborough Evening News that Scarborough magistrates have refused to grant a bar extension from 11pm to 1am for a party following the final performance at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round on 3 February.
- 3 February: Final night of Just Between Ourselves and the final performance at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round; the evening ends with the actor Malcolm Hebden reprising the role of Mr Whatnot from the play which opened the venue in 1976, turning off the stage-lights at the venue.
- March: Associate Director Malcolm Hebden steps down having been offered a full-time part on the television soap opera Coronation Street; he had been appearing irregularly as the character Norris Cole before the role became permanent.
- Early spring: The key staff at the Stephen Joseph Theatre are confirmed as Alan Ayckbourn (Artistic Director), Stephen Wood (General Administrator), Keith McFarlane (Financial Administrator), Ian Wainwright (Education Officer), Mo McLeod (Theatre Manager), Zoe Naylor (Film / Theatre Manager), Connal Orton (Literary Manager), Jeannie Swales (Press Officer); John Pattison (Musical Director), Alison Fowler (Production Manager); James Mackenzie (Senior Chef).
- Early Spring: Full details of The Stephen Joseph Theatre facilities are revealed with two auditoria, The Round and The McCarthy (which doubles as both stage and cinema and which has been named after a donation from Charles McCarthy), a conference and meeting space The Boden Room, a restaurant, bar and wine bar, a shop, two rehearsal rooms, a workshop and paint room, green room, administration offices
- 18 April: The Scarborough Evening News publishes the Stephen Joseph Theatre: Opening Night supplement, which is given away to every visitor to the Stephen Joseph Theatre during its opening week. The supplement is written and compiled by Simon Murgatroyd, who would later become Alan Ayckbourn's archivist.
- 24 April: The Stephen Joseph Theatre opens with the premiere of the musical By Jeeves by Alan Ayckbourn and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Article by and copyright of Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce this article without permission of the copyright holder.