Research: The Bob Watson Archive

The Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, is the current home of the company founded by Stephen Joseph in 1955 as Theatre In The Round At The Library Theatre. Within the building, The Bob Watson Archive holds the company's archives predominantly relating to the period 1976 to the present day.
Objectively, with regard to researching the formative years of theatre-in-the-round in Scarborough, The Bob Watson Archive cannot be considered a significant resource for several reasons. Most notably, it isn't open to the public for research as it is, predominantly, an internal resource for the venue and has no facilities nor space for visiting researchers. Nor is it catalogued nor permanently staffed.

Most significantly though - specifically in relation to the period covered by this website between 1955 to 1996 - there is little within the archive which is not held in public archives, stored and preserved in better conditions and fully catalogued.

This is not to denigrate The Bob Watson Archive as there is a significant reason for its current state which can be found in telling the history of the company's archive. That the archive even exists today is something to be celebrated.

Theatre-in-the-round in Scarborough only gained a permanent archive in 1996 when the company, founded by Stephen Joseph in 1955, moved to its present and permanent home, the Stephen Joseph Theatre. Within the venue, just off the upper foyer, a space was found - originally intended to be the theatre's cloakroom - for an archive. This was voluntarily run by the Honorary Archivist, Bob Watson, a retired head-teacher, ardent supporter of the theatre and a founder of the company's Friends' organisation.

Prior to this, there was no permanent or accessible archive. During its formative years at Theatre In The Round At The Library Theatre (1955 - 1976), what archival material was collected was held by Stephen Joseph at his home in Scarborough. When Stephen died in 1967 and the house later passed to his protégé, Alan Ayckbourn, the remains of the archive - those items which had not gone into The Stephen Joseph Papers at the John Rylands Institute at the University of Manchester - were kept in situ.

It should be noted that this archival material, collated and kept by Stephen Joseph, was his personal property and not that of the company. This was due to the fact that Theatre In The Round At The Library Theatre had been run by Studio Theatre Ltd from 1955 to 1962. That company, founded by Stephen Joseph, cut ties with Scarborough and moved to Stoke-on-Trent in 1962 to run the Victoria Theatre. There is no surviving record or documentation showing that any materials relating to Studio Theatre Ltd passed from it to the companies which subsequently ran theatre-in-the-round in Scarborough (Theatre In The Round Ltd during 1962 - 1964 and Scarborough Theatre Trust Ltd from 1964). Anything relating to a theatre archive was personally kept by Stephen Joseph - hence why the majority of his collection went to Manchester circa 1968.

In 1976, Alan Ayckbourn moved the company from Scarborough Library to the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, the company's second home until 1996. With better administration facilities, Alan decided to house Stephen's archive collection in the new building as an in-house resource, essentially on a semi-permanent loan with the archive kept in the press office.

In 1986, Alan decided to take a two-year sabbatical from Scarborough to become a Company Director at the National Theatre and a number of significant changes occurred at Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round which would have far-reaching effects for the archive.

Firstly, the theatre manager Ken Boden - associated with the company since 1955 - decided to retire. Notably, Ken had been the unofficial photographer of the company between 1955 and 1973 and, unpaid and uncommissioned, he had taken photographs of many of the productions at the theatre which he had allowed to be used for promotional purposes. Importantly, he kept the negatives and the copyright of the photos. On 31 December 1985, Ken retired and gifted all the surviving negatives relating to Alan Ayckbourn's plays at Theatre In The Round At The Library Theatre to Alan alongside a selection of negatives relating to plays Alan had acted in or directed. These negatives were retained by Alan Ayckbourn and became part of the Ayckbourn Archive. It is anticipated that during 2025 or 2026, they will be transitioned into the collection held at the Borthwick Institute for Archive and, in due course, it is expected the full rights to and licensing of the images will be passed to the University.

Most significantly though, the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round employed a new press officer, Russ Allen; who had a reputation for publicity stunts and taking consequential decisions without necessarily having them approved first.

In 1987, Russ complained about the state of the press office and the lack of room within it. At this time, it was home to the theatre archive and a small collection relating to the accounts department. When no solution was forthcoming, Russ took the issue into his own hands. One morning, a large number of bin bags were deposited outside the theatre collection by the rubbish collectors. By the time anyone realised what had happened, the entire archive relating to Theatre In The Round At The Library Theatre and the early years of Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round had been disposed of and destroyed.

Every programme, poster, press cutting, article, documentation and the majority of photographs was destroyed. With the exception of material relating to the 1980s, there was no archive left in the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round.

Russ Allen left the theatre the following year for a new job - rumour has it he jumped before he was pushed by Alan Ayckbourn, who had returned to the theatre and discovered a litany of issues - not least a very public spat being played out in the media between Russ and the former theatre manager, Ian Watson.

In the mid to late 1990s, Bob Watson took on the task of trying to restore the archive. He began by photocopying programmes for Theatre In The Round At The Library Theatre from an almost complete collection held by the Scarborough resident, Esmé Westgate. This extensive collection of material related to both Theatre In The Round At The Library Theatre and the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round was then later donated by Esme to Scarborough Library and is the foundation upon which The Library Theatre / Stephen Joseph Collection held at Scarborough Library is built. Bob then turned to Alan Ayckbourn, who agreed to allow Bob to reprint photographs from Ken Boden's negative collection and then, through appeals to the Friends of the Theatre and from his own theatre collection and research, he built back up newspaper cuttings and articles relating to the period 1955 to 1976.

This is why, essentially everything relating to Theatre In The Round At The Library Theatre in The Bob Watson Archive is a photocopy. What originals there are came from donations / loans of material from the Friends and Alan Ayckbourn. Nothing in the collection pertaining to this period is original the theatre or the company.

Bob's diligent work was rewarded when, in 1996, the company moved to its third and present home, the Stephen Joseph Theatre. Having restored the archive relating to its first home and re-built the collection relating to its second home, he was appointed Honorary Archivist and created The Stephen Joseph Theatre Archive. Bob's work on the archive is all the more remarkable due to the fact that, aside from £250 each year from 2016 - 2017, the archive has never had its own budget and has had to rely on good-will, donations - and frequently - the archivist's own resources for materials within the archive.

Bob died in 2003 and the running of the archive passed to Simon Murgatroyd, who had been working with Bob closely on his M.A. on the works of Alan Ayckbourn. Then the Deputy Box Office Manager of the theatre and also creator and administrator of the playwright's official website, Alan appointed Simon his own permanent archivist as well as Honorary Archivist for the Stephen Joseph Theatre to continue Bob's work.

In 2006, the archive was renamed The Bob Watson Archive in honour of Bob's work and Simon continued the task of re-building the archive, particularly concentrating on consolidating the archive in relation to the present home of the theatre. With other archives holding original and more extensive archives particularly relating to Theatre In The Round At The Library Theatre and the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, The Bob Watson's main and most substantive holding became related to the Stephen Joseph Theatre and its work from 1996 to the present.

In 2009, Simon arranged a semi-permanent loan of material from the Ayckbourn Archive in conjunction with the company's Executive Director, Stephen Wood, as part of the celebration of Alan Ayckbourn's 60th birthday and his retirement as Artistic Director. Stephen and Simon also curated a major joint exhibition to celebrate the theatre's 60th anniversary in 2015 between Scarborough Art Gallery and the Stephen Joseph Theatre.

In 2017, the theatre's Executive Director, Steve Freeman agreed a small annual budget for the archive for the first time and funded the creation of an archival display space in the public corridor outside the Archive. For several years, Simon arranged small exhibitions relating to the history of the theatre and current productions as well as creating a small display space at the front of the archive. Preliminary plans for expanding the archive and making it an accessible resource were also mooted but, sadly, Steve Freeman left the company before they could be progressed.

When, in 2020, the theatre was closed due to the Covid pandemic, Simon arranged a permanent archival exhibition for the corridor - which could be updated as necessary - telling the history of the company. This was installed in 2021 and, as of writing, is still in place.

In 2022, with increasing commitments as Alan Ayckbourn's archivist and with the budget for the archive having never been restored after Covid and a perceived internal lack of interest in the archive's work, Simon resigned as Honorary Archivist to concentrate on his work for Alan and to collaborate with Scarborough Library on The Library Theatre / Stephen Joseph Collection. He also led the creation of the Ayckbourn Collection at Scarborough Museums and Galleries in a bid to have a publicly accessible collection relating to Stephen Joseph, Alan Ayckbourn and theatre-in-the-round in the town.

As of writing, The Bob Watson Archive is overseen by the Communications Department at the Stephen Joseph Theatre and remains inaccessible to the public. It is registered with The National Archives as a result of its association with the UK's first professional theatre-in-the-round company.

That The Bob Watson Archive at the Stephen Joseph Theatre exists today is actually, given its history, quite remarkable. But the very nature of its history means it should be best perceived as an internal resource for the theatre itself.

For anyone interested in the theatre, its key figures and history, these are the archives where the most substantial collections are held:
  • Stephen Joseph: The Stephen Joseph Papers at The John Ryland Institute at the University of Manchester.
  • Alan Ayckbourn: The Ayckbourn Archive at The Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York.
  • Theatre In The Round At The Library Theatre (1955 - 1976): The Library Theatre / Stephen Joseph Collection at Scarborough Library.
  • The Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round (1976 - 1995): The Library Theatre / Stephen Joseph Collection; the Ayckbourn Archive; The Bob Watson Archive at the Stephen Joseph Theatre.
  • Stephen Joseph Theatre (1996 - present): The Bob Watson Archive at the Stephen Joseph Theatre.
Article by and copyright of Simon Murgatroyd (2023)
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The Scarborough pages of A Round Town are associated with The Library Theatre / Stephen Joseph Collection at Scarborough Library - which has been catalogued, curated and expanded by Simon Murgatroyd - and The Ayckbourn Collection. Facilitated by Simon Murgatroyd M.A. and donated by Sir Alan and Lady Ayckbourn to Scarborough Museums and Galleries in 2023, this collection of material celebrates the contribution of Alan Ayckbourn, Stephen Joseph and theatre in the round to Scarborough's theatrical history and heritage.