The Stephen Joseph Theatre

In 1996, Alan Ayckbourn finally achieved Stephen Joseph's ambition for a purpose-built home for Scarborough's theatre-in-the-round company.

After five years of development the company moved into a £5.2m conversion of the town's former Odeon cinema, which opened in April 1996. This venue includes a theatre-in-the-round - The Round - and a smaller end-stage space - The McCarthy - as well as full facilities.

This is the current home of theatre-in-the-round in Scarborough, tracing its roots back to the founding of the UK's first professional theatre-in-the-round company in Scarborough by Stephen Joseph in 1955.

However, the focus of this website is the history and formative years of theatre-in-the-round in Scarborough and its most significant venues, Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre (1955 - 1976) and the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round (1976 - 1995).

As such, this website's story begins with Stephen Joseph's ambition to build a permanent theatre in the round in 1955 and ends with Alan Ayckbourn realising that dream in 1996.

Full and in-depth details of Alan Ayckbourn's work and plays - including those at the Stephen Joseph
Theatre from 1996 to the present day - can be found at his official website www.alanayckbourn.net.