The First 40 Years: 1990

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.

1990: How Michael Gambon Came to Scarborough

by Simon Murgatroyd

In 1990, a rather remarkable company was assembled at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round for the autumn season, led by one of the country’s foremost actors.

It can be hard to imagine that Michael Gambon was part of the repertory company in Scarborough alongside such luminaries as Adam Godley, Claire Skinner, Ken Stott and Rupert Vansittart amongst others.

Yet this remarkable company presented Alan Ayckbourn’s first attempt at directing Shakespeare with Othello as well as a revival of Alan’s classic Taking Steps.

But how did Michael Gambon - already a huge television and stage star at the time - end up working in Scarborough?

At its simplest, because of his admiration for Alan Ayckbourn with whom he had worked a number of times in the West End and who had long professed a desire to work with Alan in his home theatre; it’s rarely recognised that Gambon is one of the greatest exponents of Alan’s writing and has appeared in more West End production of his plays than any other actor.

"To call Alan a father figure is a lot to put on anybody, but acting is such a terrifying experience that I really do look on the director as a father. He's two people. When we're not rehearsing I regard him as a friend - although we may not see each other from one year to the next. But on stage I see him as someone who looks after me. A good director watches your back. If you're playing Lear you don't want to be told on the second night that the fool is juggling with ping pong balls.”
Michael Gambon

More specifically though, Gambon’s reason for moving to the east coast was a promise made by Alan Ayckbourn several years previously that he would direct the actor in Othello. During 1987, Alan had been in discussion with his West End producer Michael Codron and Gambon about an exciting proposal for the West End. The idea was to have a repertory company performing an established text alongside the latest Ayckbourn play.

The established text chosen was Othello which excited both Gambon and Alan, who had never tried his hand at directing a Shakespearean text before. Having made that decision, Alan wrote a play which would share the same casting requirements leading to Man Of The Moment.

If this seems a bit left-field, it should be remembered that Alan was coming from his headline-grabbing run at the National Theatre which had seen him win awards and acclaim for his productions of his own A Small Family Business and Arthur Miller’s A View From The Bridge, both of which starred Gambon.

With Gambon playing the lead role in Othello, Alan cast him against type in Man Of The Moment as the mild-mannered Douglas Beechey; apparently this caused ructions with Michael Codron who believed Gambon should play the more obvious, villainous role of Vic Parks, but Alan felt Beechey presented far more of a challenge to the actor - and it was Gambon's preferred role.

“I knew it [Man Of The Moment] would eventually play in tandem with Othello but I wasn’t trying to write my version of Shakespeare which might not quite stand up. Othello is a play about jealousy and the fall of a hero: my play is about the public taste for anti-heroes.”
Alan Ayckbourn

Although the full details of this project would never come to light, it appears the idea was Alan would premiere Man Of The Moment in Scarborough during 1988 before re-directing it alongside Othello with a new company - featuring Gambon - for a run at York’s Theatre Royal, which would then transfer to the Aldwych Theatre in London.

The plan was announced in the media and casting began, but barely after a month afterwards, the entire project fell apart: numerous, often contested, reasons for this have been suggested.

Alan still opened Man Of The Moment in Scarborough and its West End transfer went ahead in 1990 with Gambon in the role of Douglas Beechey and Peter Bowles as Vic Parks.

Alan still wanted to tackle Othello though and Gambon was keen to stay with the project, so Alan proposed the London plan be transferred to Scarborough but with Othello running in repertory with his classic farce Taking Steps. Gambon agreed and performed the unlikely combination of the seasoned war general Othello and bucket merchant Roland Crabbe.

Gambon was joined in Othello by Claire Skinner as Desdemona and Ken Stott as a roundly praised Iago. Gambon himself got predominantly good reviews, but it was a contentious role to play.

Even in 1990, the decision to cast a white actor as Othello attracted some controversy, although nothing which made any significant waves in the media; it was mooted though that one of the reasons the London project fell apart was an objection by York Theatre’s Royal Artistic Director to the casting.

This aspect of the production though was slightly lost in the debate surrounding what Alan himself had done to the script in order to give it a clearer narrative and make it more succinct. Swathes of the text were cut and scenes re-ordered by Alan generating some mixed reactions.

Although Alan vigorously defended his alterations, it’s not hard to imagine that had someone done the same to one of his plays then he would have been - at the very least - livid!

The production were extremely successfully for the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round though and Taking Steps was incredibly well-received by both critics and audiences alike.

Gambon himself did not take to in-the-round though as he was notoriously fond of practical jokes and the Round did not give much space for this; although one evening he reputedly shouted ‘shampoo and set’ as he dunked Iago into a fountain!

His experiences with Taking Steps where he transformed from the imposing figure of Othello to the dishevelled drunk Crabbe appear to have been more to his liking though. In hindsight, it’s all rather astonishing to think Michael Gambon - in his last Ayckbourn role to date - performed in-the-round in Scarborough during a Scarborough autumn in 1990.

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