The Plays: Year-by-Year (1961)

This page contains productions details for all plays produced by Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, during 1961. All information on this page has been researched and compiled by Simon Murgatroyd M.A. from programmes, brochures and newspaper articles.

Summer 1961

All plays were performed in-the-round in the Concert Room at Scarborough Library. The season ran from 12 June to 9 September 1961.

Victoria Regina

Author:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:

Director:
Laurence Housman
No

12 June 1961
12 June 1961
17 June 1961

Stephen Joseph
Note: The production presented nine of the thirty short plays Housman wrote about Queen Victoria.
Character
Lord Conyngham
First Footman
Archbishop of Canterbury
Duchess Of Kent
Queen Victoria
Second Footman
Lord Melbourne
Prince Ernest
Prince Albert
John Brown
Lord Beaconsfield
The Doctor
Mrs Manson
The Dean Of Windsor
A Royal Princes
Actor
Alan Ayckbourn
Terry Lane
David Jarrett
Rosamund Dickson
Hazel Burt
Philip Clifford
Stanley Page
David Jarrett
Alan Ayckbourn
David Jarrett
Stanley Page
David Campton
Rosamund Dickson
Alan Ayckbourn
Rosamund Dickson

Five Finger Exercise

Author:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:

Director:
Design:
Peter Shaffer
No

19 June 1961
19 June 1961
30 August 1961

Stephen Joseph
Stephen Joseph
Character
Stanley Harrington
Louise Harrington
Clive
Pamela
Walter Langer
Actor
Stanley Page
Hazel Burt
David Jarrett
Rosamund Dickson
Alan Ayckbourn

Four Minute Warning

Four Minute Warning was the name given to an evening of three short plays by David Campton: At Sea, Mutatis Mutandis and Little Brother, Little Sister.
Author:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:

Director:
David Campton
No

22 June 1961
22 June 1961
28 June 1961

Stephen Joseph
Actors
Alan Ayckbourn
Hazel Burt
David Campton
Rosamund Dickson
David Jarrett
Stanley Page
Plays
LBLS
AS / MM
AS
MM / LBLS
MM / LBLS
AS
At Sea (AS); Mutatis Mutandis (MM); Little Brother, Little Sister (LBLS)

Gaslight

Author:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:

Director:
Patrick Hamilton
No

29 June 1961
29 June 1961
26 July 1961

Alan Ayckbourn
Character
Mrs Manningham
Mr Manningham
Rough
Nancy
Policeman
Actor
Hazel Burt
David Jarrett
Stanley Page
Rosamund Dickson
Philip Clifford

Standing Room Only

Author:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:

Director:
Costumes:
Music:
Roland Allen (Alan Ayckbourn)
Yes

13 July 1961
13 July 1961
8 September 1961

Stephen Joseph
Christine Roland
Philip Clifford
Character
Neeta
Nemo
Cora
Pa
John
Actor
Rosamund Dickson
David Jarrett
Hazel Burt
Stanley Page
Alan Ayckbourn

Stranger In The Family

Author:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:

Director:
Norman Horner
Yes

27 July 1961
27 July 1961
23 August 1961

Terry Lane
Character
Peggy Burton
Ken Burton
Edna Burton
Toby Hart
Dick Letts
Actor
Hazel Burt
Stanley Page
Rosamund Dickson
Alan Ayckbourn
David Jarrett

Two For The Seesaw

Author:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:
William Gibson
No

10 August 1961
10 August 1961
6 September 1961
Director:

Character
Jerry Ryan
Gittel Mosca
Alan Ayckbourn

Actor
David Jarrett
Rosamund Dickson

We've Minds Of Our Own

Author:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:
W.F. Norfolk
Yes

9 September 1961
9 September 1961
9 September 1961
Director:

Character
Flo
Aggie
Stephen Joseph

Actor
Rosamund Dickson
Hazel Burt
Note: We've Minds of Our Own was performed in a double-bill with The Bed-Life of a Mad Boy.

The Bed-Life Of A Mad Boy

Author:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:

Director:
Stockwell Allen
Yes

9 September 1961
9 September 1961
9 September 1961

Stephen Joseph
Character
A figure / Officer / Charlie / Subconscious mind
Secretary / Girl / Audience
Mad boy
Billy / Interrogator / Audience
Girl / Mother / Nun
Manager / Madman
Interrogator / Danny /
The Keeper
Madman
Actor
Alan Ayckbourn

Rosamund Dickson
David Jarrett
Stanley Page
Hazel Burt
Philip Clifford
Terry Lane

Stephen Joseph
Note: The Bed-Life of a Mad Boy was performed in a double-bill with We've Minds of Our Own.

Winter 1961

The 1961 winter season was performed in-the-round at the Concert Room at Scarborough Library. The season ran from 11 to 30 December 1961. It was the shortest of the winter seasons at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre and consisted of only two productions.

David Copperfield

Author:
Adaptation:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:

Director:
Joan Macalpine
Charles Dickens' David Copperfield
Yes

11 December 1961
11 December 1961
23 December 1961

Alan Ayckbourn
Character
David
Dr Chillip / Mr Dick /
Mr Micawber
Betsy Trotwood / Jane Murdstone / Julia
Clara / Dora Spenlow
Mr Murdstone / Mr Spenlow / Tradesman
Traddles / Uriah Heap
Actor
David Jarrett
Stanley Page

Rosamund Dickson

Patricia England
Richard Gill

Peter King

The Boys & Girls

Author:
New Play:

First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:

Director:
David Campton
Yes

26 December 1961
26 December 1961
30 December 1961

Alan Ayckbourn
Actor
Rosamund Dickson
Evelyn Lewis
David Jarrett
Richard Gill
Actor
Patricia England
Hazel Burt
Stanley Page
Alan Ayckbourn

1961 Production Notes

○ Five Finger Exercise was a revival of the production first presented in the previous winter season.
○ Gaslight marked the directorial debut of Alan Ayckbourn; at the time predominantly an actor who had also had three of his own plays produced by the company. From this point forward, playwriting and directing would begin to dominate his career in theatre.
○ Standing Room Only was the final play by Alan Ayckbourn to be produced under his writing pseudonym of Roland Allen. When the play was revived in 1962 at the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, it was instead credited to Alan Ayckbourn.
○ So popular was Standing Room Only that although originally advertised as ending in repertory on 9 August, it was brought back for two performances on 7 & 8 September in place of Two For The Seesaw which closed three days earlier than originally advertised.
○ The We've Minds Of Our Own and The Bed-Life Of A Mad Boy double-bill was a late addition to the schedule and replaced the final performance of the advertised Two For The Seesaw. Performed for just one night, the double-bill was the final performance of the summer season.
○ David Copperfield was Joan Macalpine’s first play to be professionally produced. She had initially been employed by Studio Theatre Ltd as a stage-manager before she turned her hand to writing and, later, directing with Stephen Joseph's encouragement.
○ The Boys And The Girls was a revue featuring of 14 sketches by David Campton charting life from the very young to the very old.
○ The 1961 winter season was the final winter season at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre until 1974. In 1962, Stephen Joseph opened the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent - the UK's first year-round in-the-round venue - and his company, Studio Theatre Ltd, moved to the Potteries. However, the Arts Council would not split the grant and Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre lost its subsidy leading to the loss of winter seasons and tours from the town between 1962 and 1973.
○ The majority of productions in 1961 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).