The First 40 Years: 1960

This is part of a series of articles looking at the first 40 years of the Stephen Joseph Theatre (1955 to 1995) from the perspective of the theatre's Archive. The articles were first published in the SJT Circular newsletter.

1960: Spreading The Word

by Simon Murgatroyd

This month’s article is less about what is in The Bob Watson Archive at the SJT, than what is not.

In 1960, Stephen Joseph launched the UK’s first in-the-round amateur drama festival, encouraging amateur companies to try their hand at what was still a relatively unknown form of theatre within this country.

The festival is a significant part of the SJT’s history, yet very little is held in the archive about the events which ran from 1960 to 1968 and 1977 to approximately 1987.

In fact, Scarborough Library has more material pertaining to these events than the SJT, fortunately held and well cared for within the Library’s archive. But, as an Archivist, I’m always optimistic material regarding the festival will eventually come to light and find a home in the theatre’s own archive.

What The Bob Watson Archive does have is a quantity of press cuttings relating to the event and photographs of Stephen Joseph in his role as adjudicator of the first event.

The articles demonstrate there was significant interest in the festival as it received extensive coverage in the region’s major newspapers as well as being publicised as far as away as Glasgow.

The first event ran from 14 - 17 September, 1960, immediately following the end of the summer season at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre. The first event was promoted as “A Festival Of Plays To Be Performed In The Round” but in subsequent years was changed to the somewhat catchier “In The Round Festival.”

Organised in conjunction with the British Drama League - of which the theatre manager Ken Boden was a key member - the event was announced to the media in April and attracted eight groups, who performed 10 productions.

The companies were: Whitby Youth Club, Pickering Drama Club, Scarborough Theatre Guild, Bradford Experimental Theatre-in-the-Round Group, Hull Garrett Players, Mexborough Technical College, Hugh Bell Evening Institute Middlesborough and Merseyside Unity Theatre.

Plays performed during the first festival included Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Priestley’s A Glass Of Bitter, Jonson’s Volpone and Beckett’s Endgame as well as several more experimental pieces.

In subsequent years, the festival attracted groups from York, Rotherham, Manchester, Leeds, Stoke-on-Trent, Derby and even the Greenock Players from Scotland.

The aim of the event, according to Stephen Joseph, was “to stir up theatre and see what it could do for amateur drama.”

Stephen himself adjudicated each performance and was encouraging, if notoriously honest, in his appraisals judging by the media reports at the time. The success of the event was noted by Scarborough Council and even used as part of the argument for an early push for the company to have a purpose-built home in the town, sadly something which would not be realised until 1996 and the move into the company’s present home.

The festival continued until at least 1968 at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre with Alfred Bradley, the famous northern BBC Radio Producer, adjudicating after Stephen’s death in 1967.

The festival was later revived by Alan Ayckbourn after the company’s move to the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round in 1976 with the playwright adjudicating several festivals. Sadly, no details are held in The Bob Watson Archive about the festivals held during this period.

What is interesting about the festival is it shows how important Stephen Joseph felt the amateur community was to the company during its early years. One of his earliest ambitions for the company was that professional and amateurs should be able to work in the same environment. Whilst it is a great sadness that the theatre has so few links with amateur dramatic organisations today, it must never be forgotten that the theatre owes its very existence to the amateur community which Stephen felt was an essential part of the company.

Without the likes of Ken Boden and his army of volunteers drawn from the amateur community stepping in to save the company in 1966, there would be no SJT today.

The In The Round festival is another clear indicator of Stephen’s intention to encourage amateurs and make them part of the theatre and company he founded.

Article by and copyright of Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce this article without permission of the copyright holder.