The First 40 Years: 1972

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.

1972: Farewell To A Playwright

by Simon Murgatroyd

In 1972, an era passed unmarked and unnoticed at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre with the final production by one of the early key players in the company’s history.

The summer season opened with the world premiere of Carmilla by David Campton; it would mark the final play to be staged to this day by the company by its first resident playwright.

David was involved with Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre from its inception as he was one of the four playwrights chosen by Stephen Joseph to be showcased during the inaugural season in 1955.

Alone of those playwrights, he was constantly produced throughout Stephen Joseph’s tenure at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre and would go on to co-manage the company for several years; he was a close friend of Stephen Joseph and would passionately advocate the pioneer for many years after his death.

He was also the company’s first resident writer and between 1955 and 1965, there were twelve productions of his work; all directed by Stephen Joseph and with at least one production every year during this period.

In comparison, the second most prolific playwright of the period was Alan Ayckbourn, who joined the company in 1957, with six productions of his own work.

David first came to Stephen’s attention at a playwriting course during the early 1950s. Keen to encourage a promising new writer, Stephen continued to work with David and in 1955 invited him to write a play for his new venture, the Library Theatre in Scarborough. One of Stephen Joseph’s stated intentions for this new company was to encourage new plays by new playwrights and the inaugural season featured new plays by four writers. David’s play, Dragons Are Dangerous, marked the start of a long association with the company and an even longer career as a successful playwright; he would go on to write more than 100 one act plays and twenty full-length plays and, to this day, his one acts continue to be popular with amateur companies.

David and Stephen’s strong friendship had a profound impact on David’s writing with Stephen encouraging him to tackle ideas and themes of interest to them both, which would later be firmly associated with the ‘Comedy of Menace’ genre of the period.

This writing led to favourable comparisons with Harold Pinter and Stephen firmly believed David had the potential to be the first breakout writer from Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre.

Of course, this plaudit belongs to Alan Ayckbourn, but David’s plays were noticed and well-received by such influential critics as John Russell Taylor, who wrote about David in his seminal book on British theatre during the ‘50s and ‘60s, Anger And After.

In an article in The Times in 1961, he argued the playwright’s lack of recognition was due entirely to geography: “Clearly it is Mr Campton’s misfortune that he lives in the North, and has been produced primarily by a northern company, since up to now it has prevented him from receiving the attention he should have.”

Taylor would also note of David that “his voice is individual, and deserves to be heard.” Sadly, certainly within Scarborough, his voice would be eclipsed by another playwright. Having joined the company in 1957, Alan Ayckbourn began writing in 1959 and his and David’s work often dominated the schedule at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre between 1959 and 1962, as Alan noted: “Sometimes our plays literally alternated in repertoire for months on end - his blend of light comedies and 'comedies of menace' with my own early frenetic farces.”

A friendly rivalry also developed between the two with, as Alan explains, the challenge being to create the most awkward role possible.

“It soon became matter of honour to try and write each other the ultimately unplayable, unrewarding acting role - preferably as humiliating and physically uncomfortable as possible. We also became adroit at creating for each other unrecognisable or oft repeated cue lines combined with long tortuous speeches with impossible thought changes.”

The winner of this ‘competition’ was, Alan admits, David with a notorious role in his 1961 one act play, Little Brother, Little Sister in which Alan played, well, best to let him explain.

“Probably the best / worst role he [David] ever wrote for me, though, was a homicidal, 108 year old female cook / nanny trapped in a nuclear bomb shelter with two young protégés (the cook had long ago served up their parents for dinner). The character talked incessantly in a series of totally un-learnable non-sequiturs that made Beckett seem straightforward by comparison. I wore a ton of padding including foam rubber legs the size of tree trunks, an unyielding starched uniform, an off the peg grey wig and a false nose that regularly dropped off as the perspiration flowed down my mottled yellow make-up.”

Indeed, it wasn't just Alan who ended up in unusual roles. In 1959, David adapted Mary Shelley’s classic Frankenstein for the stage and Stephen Joseph was cast as the monster! David himself acted in 23 plays including the world premieres of Alan Ayckbourn’s first two plays, The Square Cat and Love After All as well as the company’s production of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party, directed by the famed playwright himself.

But David was, first and foremost, a writer and one whom Stephen chose to champion. He directed all of David’s plays and even took several of them to London as part of the Studio Theatre’s Sunday Club, which tried to promote both theatre-in-the-round and new writing. Stephen died in 1967 and the final production he directed was David’s Cock & Bull Story during the summer of 1965 at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre. Sadly, it also essentially marked the end of David’s time with the company.

David had very much been Stephen Joseph’s man - he was responsible for executing Stephen’s estate following his death in 1967 - so it is perhaps telling that between 1967 and 1971, David - who had been so prolific - was not produced at the Library Theatre. His commission for 1972 was a swan song to a his career at the SJT.

Carmilla saw Alan Ayckbourn directing David’s adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu’s classic vampire story, which was well-acclaimed not least for convincingly bringing an atmospheric gothic horror story into the round, playing it for chills rather than laughs.

David died in 2006 at the age of 82, shortly after receiving the Doctor Of Letters at the University of Leicester, having undoubtedly made a significant and lasting mark on British drama.

His plays continue to be popular, although his association with the Stephen Joseph Theatre is largely forgotten now, despite the fact he is undoubtedly one of this theatre and Stephen Joseph’s success stories.

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