Stephen Joseph Theatre

About:

The Stephen Joseph Theatre is one of Scarborough’s most important cultural landmarks, bringing live performance, cinema, new writing and community activity into the heart of the town. Based on Westborough, close to the railway station and town centre, it gives Scarborough a creative focus away from the seafront while still feeling closely connected to the town’s identity as a place of entertainment, stories and shared experiences.

The theatre has a nationally significant history. It grew out of Stephen Joseph’s pioneering work in theatre-in-the-round, beginning in Scarborough in 1955 when he opened a small theatre on the first floor of the town’s library. This was the first professional theatre-in-the-round company in Britain, placing audiences around the stage and creating a more intimate, immediate relationship between actors and spectators. That spirit of closeness and invention still shapes the venue today.

The theatre is also strongly associated with Alan Ayckbourn, one of Britain’s most prolific and celebrated playwrights. Ayckbourn became Artistic Director in 1972 and, during his long tenure, helped make Scarborough a major centre for new writing. The theatre’s own history notes that under Ayckbourn it premiered 239 plays by 87 writers, a remarkable legacy for a regional venue.

The current Stephen Joseph Theatre opened in 1996 in a converted former Odeon cinema. The building contains two main performance spaces: The Round, a 404-seat theatre-in-the-round, and The McCarthy, a smaller 165-seat end-on theatre and cinema. This mix allows the venue to host a varied programme, from plays and comedy to film screenings, live broadcasts, talks and community events.

For visitors, the Stephen Joseph Theatre offers something different from Scarborough’s beach, arcades and heritage attractions. It is a place to slow down, watch something live, and experience the town’s creative side. Its programme often includes new plays, touring work and productions connected to Ayckbourn’s continuing relationship with the theatre. In recent years, his later plays have continued to appear there, including Show & Tell, described by The Guardian as his 90th play, and Earth Angel, reviewed as his 91st.