Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round: 1982

This page contains a more detailed guide to significant events concerning Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round in 1982.

1982

  • The Arts Council of Great Britain releases statistics showing the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round and Oldham Coliseum produce more new work than any other regional theatre in the UK.
  • Publicity Officer Stephen Wood leaves the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round to become a publicity officer at the National Theatre; he will become Head of Press at the NT in 1988 before returning to Scarborough as the General Administrator of the new Stephen Joseph Theatre from 1996 to 2015.
  • 18 January: The first performance of a theatre-in-education collaboration between the theatre and North Riding College sees a professional tour of The Island by Brian Way tour to 40 schools in the Scarborough area between 18 January and 12 February.
  • 24 February: Opening night of arguably the most ambitious tour ever conducted by the theatre, sees the Scarborough company tour Alan Ayckbourn's Way Upstream for a month-long residency at the Alley Theatre, Houston. The residency also sees Alan Ayckbourn direct the company in a production of Absent Friends specifically for the Alley Theatre.
  • 7 May: During a special meeting of Scarborough Theatre Trust, Alan Ayckbourn revealed his original plans to revive Way Upstream for the summer alongside the production of Absent Friends produced for the Alley Theatre had had to be altered due to losing 80% of the company alongside the National Theatre taking on Way Upstream. In their place, he proposed the two-hander Intimate Exchanges for the year ahead.
  • The resident band is expanded for the summer season with two new members and is renamed Alpha Beta; the band's schedule also includes late-night, post-show gigs for the first time.
  • 3 June: The Spring / Summer season opens with the world premiere of Alan Ayckbourn's Intimate Exchanges; this ambitious play has 16 possible variations and features two actors playing 10 roles with 16 hours of dialogue in total. The entire play is introduced over the course of the coming year.
  • 7 July: Scarborough & District Civic Society presents an award to Scarborough Theatre Trust for the change of use and improvements to the Westwood building.
  • Largely due to Intimate Exchanges and a need for financial prudence, the lunchtime and late night shows are not produced this year.
  • The summer season is reported to have a 94% capacity; negating fears that audiences would not understand Intimate Exchanges and realise multiple visits are needed to fully appreciate the play.
  • 15 September: The Autumn / Winter season opens with Eduardo de Filippo's Saturday, Sunday, Monday.
  • 24 October: The theatre collaborates with the Scarborough branch of Amnesty International to present the revue Westwood Ho! Ho! with members of the company donating their services for free.
Article by and copyright of Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce this article without permission of the copyright holder.