The Plays: Year-by-Year (1957)

This page contains productions details for all plays produced by Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, during 1957. 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 performed in-the-round in the Concert Room at Scarborough Library. The season ran from 12 July to 7 September 1957.

The Glass Menagerie

Author:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:

Director:
Tennesse Williams
No

4 July 1957
4 July 1957
24 July 1957

Clive Goodwin
Character
Tom
Amanda
Laura
John
Actor
Malcolm Rogers
Betty Cardno
Shirley Jacobs
Frank Mills

An Inspector Calls

Author:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:

Director:
J.B. Priestley
No

11 July 1957
11 July 1957
28 August 1957

Clive Goodwin
Character
Arthur Birling
Gerald Croft
Sheila Birling
Sybil Birling
Eric Birling
Inspector Goole
Edna
Actor
Malcolm Rogers
Frank Mills
Shirley Jacobs
Betty Cardno
Alan Ayckbourn
Rodney Wood
Anne Taylor

The Ornamental Hermit

Author:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:

Director:
Catherine Prynne
Yes

1 August 1957
1 August 1957
6 September 1957

Rodney Wood
Character
Bensted
Michael Bridges
Violet
Emma Totteridge
Sue
Lewis Finbow
Jack Bensted
Actor
Frank Mills
Clive Goodwin
Anne Taylor
Betty Cardno
Shirley Jacobs
Malcolm Rogers
Alan Ayckbourn

Honey In The Stone

Author:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:

Director:
Ruth Dixon
Yes

15 August 1957
15 August 1957
4 September 1957

Clive Goodwin
Character
Anna Maria Van Aart
Lily
Wong
Christian Van Aart
David Van Aart
Jonathan Van Aart
Actor
Betty Cardno
Shirley Jacobs
Frank Mills
Rodney Wood
Malcolm Rogers
Clive Goodwin

Winter 1957

The inaugural winter season was performed in the Large Lecture Room; as a consequence it is unlikely they were performed in the round with plans held at Scarborough Library indicating they were performed traverse (or two sided). The season ran from 9 December 1957 to 5 January 1958 (TBC).

I Have Been Here Before

Author:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:

Director:
J.B. Priestley
No

9 December 1957
9 December 1957
15 December 1957

Stephen Joseph
Character
Sally Pratt
Sam Shipley
Dr Gortler
Oliver Farrant
Janet Ormund
Walter Ormund
Actor
Prunella Saenger
David Campton
Rodney Wood
Clive Goodwin
Celia Hewitt
Brian Wallace

Look Back In Anger

Author:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:

Director:
John Osborne
No

16 December 1957
16 December 1957
22 December 1957

Rodney Wood
Character
Jimmy Porter
Cliff Lewis
Alison Porter
Helena Charles
Colonel Redfern
Actor
Clive Goodwin
Brian Wallace
Prunella Saenger
Celia Hewitt
Rodney Wood

Lucky Peter's Travels

Author:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:

Director:
August Strindberg
No

23 December 1957
23 December 1957
1 January 1957

Rodney Wood
Character
Lucky Peter
All other roles
Actor
Brian Wallace
Clive Goodwin
Celia Hewitt
Prunella Saenger
David Campton
Marlene Murray
Rodney Wood

The Lunatic View

The Lunatic View was the name given to an evening of four short plays by David Campton: Memento Mori, A Smell of Burning, Getting & Spending and Then….
Author:
New Plays:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:

Director:
David Campton
No

30 December 1957
30 December 1957
5 January 1958 (TBC)

Rodney Wood
Actors
Clive Goodwin
Celia Hewitt
Stephen Joseph
Prunella Saenger
Brian Wallace
Plays
MM / ASOB / GAS
ASOB / GAS / T
MM / ASOB / GAS / T
GAS
MM / ASOB / GAS / T
Memento Mori (MM); A Smell of Burning (ASOB); Getting & Spending (GAS); Then… (T)

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 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.
○ 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).