Significant Events: The National Anthem Controversy
The Library Theatre in Scarborough is believed to be the first regional theatre in the UK to stop playing the National Anthem during performances, which generated a considerable amount of attention. This article looks into the SJT Archive at the historical basis of the story.The National Anthem Controversy
by Simon Murgatroyd1958 was a steady year in all respects for Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre, Scarborough: there was little attention in the local press to the venture other than reviews and announcements of shows and audiences continued to build.
There was just a tiny incident which would make little impact that year, but would have huge ramifications for the company in the years to come.
It was a relatively innocuous decision - although one cannot help but think that Stephen Joseph, anti-establishment as he was had more than an inkling that it would raise a few eye-brows. At the start of the season, Stephen chose to stop playing the National Anthem before the start of every play. This may seem a somewhat trivial matter, but in context this was a radical move.
Every theatre in the country played the National Anthem at the start or end of a production; this was tradition. However, within certain theatres in London, there had been a decision to play the National Anthem only at the start and close of the season and on special occasions. Stephen, ever the anti-establishment character, chose to follow suit and Scarborough became the first regional theatre in the country to stop the practise.
It is doubtful Stephen could ever have imagined the fallout this would cause over the next decade. On 23 January 1958, the letters page of the Scarborough Evening News raged with indignation.
“...we were so seething with rage at this insult that we tackled the director of the show, Mr Joseph. His lame excuses were: (1) he did not think the patrons wished it, (2) it was no good unless it was played by an orchestra, and (3) it would be played at the last performance of the season....”
As was to be expected, several more letters picked up this theme, criticising the theatre and giving the Evening News some stories during the traditionally slow season for news stories. The issue faded, only for Stephen to address it at the end of the year by telling the Evening News:
“I feel that those people who objected in the summer were a bit eccentric, or they were people who did not often visit theatre or just happened to be feeling cross.”
What neither Stephen with his typical understatement nor the newspaper realised as he spoke was this was a slow-burner of a story, about to explode in the early months of the following year.
1959 opened with a bang for the Studio Theatre Company and the first indication this was not going to be a normal twelve months - there would be much controversy and the launch of a playwright, all but unrecognised at the time, who would go on to great things.
In December 1958, Stephen had commented on the few complaints he had received about the National Anthem being dropped from performances at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre. Presumably he believed this would be the last word on the discussion.
Unfortunately, other people had different intentions and if a narrative needs a nemesis, then the theatre’s was created on 28 January in the shape of Maurice Plows; treasurer of the Scarborough Theatre Guild. The theatre-in-the-round at this time was still working closely with the local amateur organisations, who were still manning the front of house and doing work wherever Stephen and Ken Boden could get them to. In this light,
Maurice’s announcement that he was resigning as treasurer of the guild solely because of actions by Stephen Joseph would have caused quite a furore. The problem? As Maurice told the Scarborough Evening News, the fact that the National Anthem was no longer being played.
“I have been approached by a well-known figure in Scarborough who asked me if I could do something about it [the playing of the National Anthem at each performance]. I saw Mr Joseph who said that the National Anthem was not played at every performance in London. But it is different here. If there is sufficient local demand - and there is – for the National Anthem, then they should play it - or otherwise lose patrons.... If they [the patrons] are going to stay away because they think we are not playing the National Anthem, then we are going to lose money.”
Quite who approached Maurice about this is never explained, nor at any point in the coming months is any evidence presented about the depth of feeling in the community about this issue. Despite all that is said on the issue, there is never any evidence it affected ticket sales in any note-worthy way.
The problem was that the playing of the National Anthem was a tradition, not a requirement - although it had probably become the latter in some people’s minds. Stephen was within his rights to stop playing the anthem. A point confirmed when the Yorkshire Evening Post did the extraordinary thing of contacting the Lord Chamberlain about the supposed outrage.
“An official of the Lord Chamberlain’s office said today: “There is no regulation on this. We are completely indifferent to it, and would never contemplate issuing any order or advice.”
Had sanity prevailed, that really should have been the end of the argument, but it became a battleground in the Scarborough Evening News letters pages and eventually The Stage picked up the story in February. Meanwhile, Maurice was standing his ground more firmly than ever, asserting in March that the number of people now not attending shows ran into “three figures.”
Quite how he deduced this is hard to evaluate. The company was on tour from the town, visiting venues they had never visited before - with nothing for comparison where did this figure come from? But for impressive figures pulled from thin air, this was nothing as compared to Scarborough’s Mayor, who had made an extraordinary claim.
“Speaking at a dinner on Saturday, the Mayor said: “I have received many letters asking me if I could persuade them to play the National Anthem.” The Mayor added: “It just seems ridiculous to me, considering that 75-90 per cent of the population of Scarborough want it.”
The Mercury wryly noted that it had only received two letters in support of the National Anthem and that all the rest must be going to the Town Hall instead. Eventually, a pro-active move was put forward by the theatre and Rodney Wood announced that a referendum would be taken from 22 - 26 June at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre. If there was a substantive response in favour, the National Anthem would be restored.
The argument seemed to lose wind by the end of March, after the announcement of the referendum and a particularly literate letter of support from a David Mann, of Scarborough.
“The matter is of little importance, quite divorced from the question of attendance at the theatre, and that the National Anthem is incongruous in such a place.... If, as Mr Plow foretells, we all stay away rather than go and record our vote next summer, then perhaps it would be better if the theatre went elsewhere, rather than depend upon a public which puts petty trifles before art.”
Of the referendum, there was no further news, but needless to say, the playing of the National Anthem was never restored.
The matter was only finally laid to rest 10 years later though. By 1969, Stephen Joseph had died and the theatre had gone a decade without playing the National Anthem at daily performances. The issue had not been raised in the press or in committee minutes. Yet during the AGM, the following was minuted:
“Secretary reported that he had received a request for some decision regarding the playing of the National Anthem at the Library Theatre. After some discussion it was proposed Miss Clarke and seconded Mr Plows:- ‘That the National Anthem be played.’ On a vote being taken it was defeated three votes for and four against. It was however agreed that the National Anthem be played at the beginning and end of the season performances and when there was a civic night. This was carried.”
And so the issue of the National Anthem at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre was, finally, laid to rest.
Article by and copyright of Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce this article without permission of the copyright holder.