The Complete Plays: 1957 Overview
This page contains details about the 1957 season at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre, Scarborough. For details about individual plays, click on the play titles below.All information on this page has been researched and compiled by Simon Murgatroyd M.A. from programmes, brochures and newspaper articles.
Summer 1957
All plays were performed in-the-round in the Concert Room at Scarborough Library. The season ran from 4 July to 6 September 1957. The plays were performed in rep with a change of programme on Thursdays.Advertised Programme
○ The Glass Menagerie
○ An Inspector Calls
○ The Glass Menagerie
○ An Inspector Calls
○ The Ornamental Hermit
○ Honey in The Stone
○ An Inspector Calls
○ Honey in the Stone
○ The Ornamental Hermit
○ An Inspector Calls
○ The Glass Menagerie
○ An Inspector Calls
○ The Ornamental Hermit
○ Honey in The Stone
○ An Inspector Calls
○ Honey in the Stone
○ The Ornamental Hermit
4 - 10 July
11 - 17 July
18 - 24 July
25 - 31 July
1 - 14 August
15 - 21 August
22 - 28 August
29 August - 4 September
5 - 6 September
11 - 17 July
18 - 24 July
25 - 31 July
1 - 14 August
15 - 21 August
22 - 28 August
29 August - 4 September
5 - 6 September
Actual Programme / Alterations
No brochure or schedule for the 1957 has survived in archive and, as a result, this programme has been reconstructed from programmes, advertisements and published article by Simon Murgatroyd M.A.
Creatives
Stephen Joseph (Artistic Director)Clive Goodwin (Director)
Rodney Wood (Director)
Ruth Dixon (Writer)
Catherine Prynne (Writer)
Actors
Alan AyckbournBetty Cardno
Shirley Jacobs
Frank Mills
Actors
Malcolm RogersAnne Taylor
Rodney Wood
Other Staff
Rodney Wood (Theatre Manager)Alan Ayckbourn (Stage Manager)
John Smith (ASM)
Anne Taylor (ASM)
Christine Hakings (Box Office)
Vicki Lester (Box Office)
Veronica Pemberton-Billing (Catering)
Front of House arranged by Scarborough Theatre Guild
Winter 1957 / 1958
All plays were performed in-the-round (albeit a compromised 'round' due to the dimensions of the space) in the Large Lecture Room at Scarborough Library; the Concert Room normally used for performance was not available for the company's first winter season. The season ran from 10 December 1957 to 4 January 1958. The four plays were performed consecutively - not in rep - with a change of programme on Mondays.Advertised / Actual Programme
10 - 15 December
16 - 22 December
23 December - 1 January
30 December - 4 January
16 - 22 December
23 December - 1 January
30 December - 4 January
Notes
The Lunatic View as an anthology work consisting of four short plays: Memento Mori, A Smell of Burning, Getting & Spending and Then….
Creatives
Stephen Joseph (Artistic Director)Rodney Wood (Director)
Actors
David CamptonClive Goodwin
Celia Hewitt
Stephen Joseph
Marlene Murray
Actors
Prunella SaengerJohn Smith
Brian Wallace
Rodney Wood
Other Staff
Rodney Wood (Theatre Manager)Ken Boden (Local Secretary)
John Smith (Stage Manager)
Marlene Murray (ASM)
Veronica Pemberton-Billing (Catering)
Front of House arranged by Scarborough Theatre Guild
1957 Production Notes
○ The Glass Menagerie is notable for being the first production in which Alan Ayckbourn - later the Artistic Director of the company - was involved. He joined Studio Theatre Ltd at the age of 18 as an Acting Stage Manager (a stage manager with limited acting roles). This marked his first production as stage manager.
○ An Inspector Calls marked the acting debut of Alan Ayckbourn - later the company's Artistic Director - at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre.
○ The author of An Inspector Calls, J.B. Priestley, was an early advocate of theatre in the round and had been in contact with Studio Theatre Ltd's Artistic Director Stephen Joseph about the company in Scarborough.
○ Winter 1957 marked Studio Theatre Ltd's inaugural winter season at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre. They would run until 1961 before resuming in 1974.
○ The brochure for the winter season for Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre indicates the first night of I Have Been Here Before was 10 December, however a special preview to launch the winter season for an invited audience was held on 9 December.
○ Although The Lunatic View is not credited as a world premiere at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre, this was the world premiere production having opened in London prior to the winter season. The Lunatic View originally ran from 25 November - 7 December 1957 at the Mahatma Gandhi Assembly Hall, 41 Fitzroy Square, London.
○ The programme for The Lunatic View credits Heath Block as playing the Radio Announcer; Heath Block was one of several pseudonyms used by the company's Artistic Director Stephen Joseph.
○ There was no performance on Christmas Day but Lucky Peter's Travels had 'special' matinees on 26, 27, 28, 30 December and 1 January.
○ The majority of productions in 1957 were performed without an interval.
○ An Inspector Calls marked the acting debut of Alan Ayckbourn - later the company's Artistic Director - at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre.
○ The author of An Inspector Calls, J.B. Priestley, was an early advocate of theatre in the round and had been in contact with Studio Theatre Ltd's Artistic Director Stephen Joseph about the company in Scarborough.
○ Winter 1957 marked Studio Theatre Ltd's inaugural winter season at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre. They would run until 1961 before resuming in 1974.
○ The brochure for the winter season for Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre indicates the first night of I Have Been Here Before was 10 December, however a special preview to launch the winter season for an invited audience was held on 9 December.
○ Although The Lunatic View is not credited as a world premiere at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre, this was the world premiere production having opened in London prior to the winter season. The Lunatic View originally ran from 25 November - 7 December 1957 at the Mahatma Gandhi Assembly Hall, 41 Fitzroy Square, London.
○ The programme for The Lunatic View credits Heath Block as playing the Radio Announcer; Heath Block was one of several pseudonyms used by the company's Artistic Director Stephen Joseph.
○ There was no performance on Christmas Day but Lucky Peter's Travels had 'special' matinees on 26, 27, 28, 30 December and 1 January.
○ The majority of productions in 1957 were performed without an interval.
All information for this page has been researched and compiled by Simon Murgatroyd and should not be reproduced without permission. Any approved reproduction of information from this page should always credit 'A Round Town (www.theatre-in-the-round.co.uk).