A Boat In The Backyard (1968)

Author:
New Play:

Venue:
Location:
Staging:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:
David Bramley
Yes

Library Theatre
Concert Room, Scarborough Library
Round

24 June 1968
24 June 1968
14 September 1968
Director:

Stage Manager:
Deputy Stage Manager:
Asst. Stage Manager:
Asst. Stage Manager:
Joan Macalpine

Robin Holmes
Rosalind Speight
Bryan Andrews
Penny Leatherbarrow
Character
Cora Clarke
Arthur Clarke
Harry Clarke
Jack Dandy
Actor
Patricia Clapton
Tom Baker
Bill Greaves
Francis Wallis

Why is this play significant?

Tom Baker essentially. The renowned actor who became famed as the fourth Doctor in the long-running British sci-fi series Doctor Who performed for a season in Scarborough in 1968 early in his career. This was the only new play of the season and written by a writer nurtured by the famed BBC Radio Producer Alfred Bradley who was a member of the Scarborough Theatre Trust board.

Notes

○ A Boat In The Backyard was the only new play produced during the 1968 summer season at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre, Scarborough.
○ This was David Bramley's first stage-play, although his prose had been professionally published and he had written two screenplays for the television series Z Cars. Although born in Northallerton, he lived in West Ayton, Scarborough.
○ This was an early professional stage role for the actor Tom Baker, who would find long-term fame when he joined the popular British television series Doctor Who as the fourth Doctor in 1974. This marked his first performance at the Library Theatre and he would also appear in Hay Fever, The Strongbox and Arden Of Feversham during the 1968 summer season.
○ The 1968 summer season is unique in the Stephen Joseph Theatre's history in that none of the acting company had ever worked at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre before and none of them would rejoin the company in subsequent years.
All research for this page by Simon Murgatroyd.