The Library Theatre at 70 - Celebrating Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre (1955 - 1976)
Scarborough Library is to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the UK’s first professional theatre in the round company in 2025.In 1955, in the Concert Room on the first floor of Scarborough Library, theatre pioneer Stephen Joseph founded a company dedicated to theatre in the round and new writing. Over the next 21 years, Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre would gain a national reputation for its work, not least for being home to the playwright, Alan Ayckbourn.
In 2025, Scarborough Library in conjunction with Alan Ayckbourn’s archivist and theatre historian, Simon Murgatroyd, will be marking the 70th anniversary by highlighting the significance of Scarborough Library in British theatre history.
“Scarborough Library is essential to the story of theatre-in-the-round in the UK,” said Simon. “In 2025, we want to celebrate the Library Theatre and its achievements between 1955 and 1976 as well as shining a light on some of the forgotten history.
“Scarborough Library was home to the UK’s first theatre-in-the-round company and one of the earliest companies dedicated to new playwriting in the country. The exhibition will explore where it all began and how it thrived in this most unlikely of places for a theatre revolution.”
Running from 10 - 12 July 2025 on the first floor of Scarborough Library, the exhibition will feature 70 photographs highlighting the plays, people and life at the Library Theatre.
Many of the images, drawn from both the Library’s Stephen Joseph Collection and the Ayckbourn Archive, have rarely been seen before. There will also be a specially created video presentation including archival footage of the library theatre and an interview with Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE.
The exhibition will also include original pieces from Stephen Joseph’s ‘Theatre-in-the-Round exhibition’ created for the Library Theatre in 1955 as well as his touring exhibition, which he used for public talks about theatres history and design.
Simon will be giving free talks on Thursday 10 July at 6pm and Saturday 12 July at 11am in the Concert Room, highlighting the significance of Scarborough Library to British Theatre history where many of Alan Ayckbourn’s most famous works - such as Absurd Person Singular and The Norman Conquests - received their world premieres.
He will also be launching a new book, A Theatrical Revolution - Celebrating Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre, in a numbered and signed edition limited to 70 copies. Simon will be based for all three days at the library offering insight into the Library Theatre and his own work as archivist and writer to visitors.
Throughout July, material held in the library’s Stephen Joseph Collection will also be on display in the Scarborough Room, including the opportunity to view the earliest correspondence relating to the Library Theatre’s creation and the UK’s single most complete collection of programmes relating to the Library Theatre, where 17 of Alan Ayckbourn’s plays premiered between 1959 and 1976.
The exhibition is free and running from 10am to 5pm on Thursday 10 and Friday 11 July and from 10am to 2pm on Saturday 12 July.
Further details of the event can be found at www.a-round-town.com as well as on the Ayckbourn Blog via www.alanayckbourn.net. The blog is also celebrating the anniversary through a series of regular articles celebrating the Library Theatre and the people who helped create it.
Simon is grateful for the support of North Yorkshire Council, Scarborough Library and Sir Alan and Lady Ayckbourn.
Stephen Joseph opened Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre on 14 July 1955 and would run it for a decade before his death in 1967. His protégé, Alan Ayckbourn, took over as Artistic Director in 1972 and would run the company for the next 37 years.
In 1976, the company moved from the library to a former school renamed the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round until 1996, when the company moved to its current home, the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the town’s former Odeon cinema.
Separately, the Stephen Joseph Theatre will also be celebrating the 70th anniversary of its founding with an event on Sunday 13 July called The SJT’s 70th Birthday Party. Further details about this event are available from www.sjt.uk.com.