Another 50 Years for SJT in Scarborough???

The year-long celebrations in Scarborough for the 50th anniversary of the Stephen Joseph Theatre are hotting up this month and next (See News, 29 Apr 2005). Last Thursday, current artistic director Alan Ayckbourn unveiled a blue plaque in honour of Joseph, the theatrical pioneer and his personal mentor, at the North Yorkshire County Council Library. It was in that building that Joseph, inspired by a trip to the US, founded the UK’s first-ever in-the-round theatre in the summer of 1955. Soon after that, Ayckbourn, now 66, joined the company as a teenaged actor and, with Joseph’s encouragement, premiered his first play, The Square Cat, at the theatre in 1959. After Joseph died in 1967, Ayckbourn succeeded him as artistic director and, nine years ago, moved the company into a new two-auditorium home, which was named in honour of his predecessor. Along the way, Ayckbourn has become the UK’s most prolific playwright, premiering one new play at SJT each year. His 67th play, Private Fears in Public Places, has recently proved a hit in New York and is now tipped for a full Broadway season; while back in Scarborough, his 69th, Improbable Fiction forms part of the 50th anniversary season and continues in rep until September. In addition to productions, special birthday events include a champagne reception hosted by Ayckbourn at Castle Howard on 31 July and, from 9 to 13 August, 50 Years New, five evenings celebrating the five different decades of the theatre’s life to date. For more reporting from Scarborough, visit Ian Watson’s blog, “Tyke Goes Bialystock for Sister Jo”, on our sub-site, Blogsonstage.com.

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