A Theatrical Revolution - Celebrating Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre
To accompany the recent exhibition The Library Theatre at 70 at Scarborough Library (10 - 12 July 2025), a book by Alan Ayckbourn's archivist and theatre historian Simon Murgatroyd celebrates the founding of the company including an exclusive preface and interview with Sir Alan Ayckbourn.The book is limited to 70 signed and numbered copies and remaining copies are now being sold via Mrs Lofthouse's Emporium bookshop, Queen Street, Scarborough, at £6 or by contacting Simon Murgatroyd.
A Theatrical Revolution
Written by Simon Murgatroyd M.A., A Theatrical Revolution delves into the founding of the UK's first professional theatre-in-the-round company in 1955 by the pioneer Stephen Joseph.Drawing on archival material held by Scarborough Library and in the Ayckbourn Archive at the Borthwick Institute for Archives, the book explores how a significant moment in British Theatre history came to pass in the most unlikely of places on the first floor of Scarborough Library.
- A preface by Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE
- An interview with Sir Alan Ayckbourn about his early memories of working at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre.
- An in-depth account by Simon Murgatroyd of the founding year of the company in 1955 from concept to performance to aftermath.
- Contemporary articles by Stephen Joseph explain and promoting Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre.
- Details of the 1955 company and plays.
- A brief timeline of Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre from 1955 - 1976.
- A newly created ground plan illustrating the layout of Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre on Scarborough Library's first floor.
- Rarely seen photographs and extensive footnotes.
Simon Murgatroyd M.A. is a professional writer who previously wrote Unseen Ayckbourn, looking at the unproduced, unpublished and unwritten works of Alan Ayckbourn. His articles on Alan Ayckbourn and theatre-in-the-round have been published worldwide including regularly for the world premiere and West End productions of Alan Ayckbourn's plays.
He is also the founder and creator of both Alan Ayckbourn's Official Website and the A Round Town website, which celebrates the history of theatre-in-the-round in Scarborough.