2. The Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough

A friend said to me over Christmas that he couldn't live in Scarborough because there wasn't enough cultural 'stuff' going on. There's two points I'd make in response to that:

1) There's loads of cultural stuff going on.
2) It's not an issue because he lives somewhere else anyway (and it isn't even a place that has the longest running seaside show in the country, that's for sure. But let's not get bitter).



Before attempting to explore the full range of Scarborough's cultural acitivites, you have to start with the Stephen Joseph Theatre, surely one of the best known theatres outside London... or Stratford... or Edinburgh... or Hull... it's quite well known anyway. Being called the Stephen Joseph Theatre is slightly confusing because it is regarded as Alan Ayckbourn's theatre. Ayckbourn retired as Artistic Director of the Theatre a week ago, after holding the position since 1972. During that time he's premiered many of his 72 plays in Scarborough and he still remains as Guest Director. The Theatre in Scarborough has obviously been shaped by Ayckbourn's vision, but in turn he was influenced by Stephen Joseph.

Stephen Joseph was an actor, writer, set designer and producer, from the Cambridge Footlights Review in 1947, to teaching at the Central School of Speech and Drama. He also studied at Iowa University and while he was in America saw performances set 'in the round'. On his return to England he became frustrated with there was a lack of intimacy in large proessional theatures and that a change was needed to make theatre attractive to a modern audience. He wanted to start his own theatre, but the expense of doing this made it impossible, he says, "until I recalled that one of my notes on the theatre in the round pointed out its economy. And then it was simply a question of finding a place and forming a company."

That place became Scarborough. Following a lecture in the area he was shown the Concert Room at Scarborough Public Library and that became the Library Theatre. It opened in the summer of 1955 with the unique feature of the audience being sitted on all four sides of the stage. It was the first professional theatre in the round in the UK. Alan Ayckbourn became a stage manager and actor at the theatre, and, after complaining about the quality of the lines he was expected to speak, Stephen Joseph suggested that he wrote a better script himself. Ayckbourn gave it a go and wrote his first play, performed in 1959.

(Information on Stephen Joseph from 'A Profile of Stphen Joseph' by Ren Yaldren.

Ayckbourn continued Stephen Joseph's vision in the theatre, taking it from the Library to become the Theatre in the Round (at the old Westwood School by Valley Bridge) to it's current form as the Stephen Joseph Theatre - still, characteristically, in the round.

The Theatre dominates the top of the town, especially at night when it's neon lights emphasise the art deco masterpiece of the old Odeon Cinema. As a member of the audience, seeing theatre in the round means that, when compared to the proscenium arch (no culture?) you are always close to the stage. Ayckbourn has said that theatre in the round, "Brings us back to the basic bulding blocks of theatre, just actors and audience withouth anything getting in between. It is electrifying: you get so close to the actors. Every time I work on a prescenium arch stage, I come back here saying, 'Now I see why the round is the only way.'"

That's all great, but it overlooks a crucial feature of theatre in the round; that you can see the other members of the audience. This wasn't so good when I went on a school trip the see The Caretaker. A lad from another school far far away had obviously been engaging in the important schoolboy preparation for the theatre by drinking Carling Black Label until it was almost spilling out of him. Then at a crucial point in the performance, possibly an important exchange about Sidcup, it did spill out of him. It was horrible. Even the actors stopped to watch what was going on.

On a more positive note, you might look across the stage and spot one of your old teachers sitting opposite you - with their arm around someone who used to be in your class... maybe. Or you might see John Byrne, the author of Tutti Frutti, the greatest ever TV drama. I'm sure it was him last time I went, and hopefully he was there setting up a performance of Tutti Frutti.

So, ultimately, just how cultural does the Stephen Joseph Theatre make Scarborough. Well, let me tell you this. I went down there a few days ago to buy tickets for John Shuttleworth, only to be faced by a queue a mile long for Othello starring Lenny Henry. Now, if Lenny Henry was peforming at the Futurist on the sea front, there probably wouldn't have been a queue. And if Othello had been announced at the theatre, there probably wouldn't have been a queue. So, why was there a big queue for Othello featuring Lenny Henry? If we can answer that, then we're making strides towards understanding culture.

It's over to you - culture/theatre/Lenny Henry? I'm just going to pose a couple of thoughts.

1) People are keen to see Othello because they think Lenny is going to do it in his Deakus voice.
2) Most people were actually queueing for John Shuttleworth tickets.
3) Pretty much everything you see at the Stephen Joseph Theatre is fantastic.

Kevern
The Waves - coastal bed and breakfast
www.scarboroughwaves.co.uk

1. The Market Vaults - Scarborough

The Market Vaults really are one of Scarborough’s hidden gems. The market itself is a huge building, but you’d even miss that if you were rushing down the main street to catch a donkey ride. The market is to the left off Newborough (from the station you’ve got Westborough, Newborough, Eastborough and then the harbour) – somewhere behind Boyes and Argos.

Once you’re there you can’t miss the market, but unless you’re looking for fruit and veg, meat products, DIY equipment or bobble hats, the market probably won’t keep you long… Actually, all that sounds quite interesting, but the market vaults are the real treasure trove. About 30 shops – not really shops as we know them, more a cross between Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley and the stalls at Glastonbury – have been squeezed into the passages beneath the market. So if you’re looking for a shopping experience that’s the complete opposite to the Brunswick Centre is its chain store outlets then this is the place to come because everything here is a one off.

The Trading Post is a great place to start – a small piece of Arizona transported to the Yorkshire coast, with a selection of Navajo Indian artifacts, cowboy boots, belts and bootlace ties, some with scorpions in them. Along from the Trading Post you’ll find the Tin Shop – which really does what it says on the, uhm, tin. It’s like a museum selling all sorts of nostalgia tins, magazines and collectible bric a brac. As you browse you’ll almost certainly find yourself saying, ‘We had one of those.’

You feel like you’ve stepped back in time? Then how about The Clock Shop (oh, very clever) which is packed with beautifully restored grandfather clocks, mantel clocks and barometers etc. If you’re looking for a present for your grandfather and have a couple of thousand pounds to spend this could be just the place. On the other hand, as grandfathers are getting younger all the time (or is it that grandchildren are getting older?) maybe he’d prefer a classic album from the second-hand record shop tucked away in the back corner. Its name is an indecipherable graffiti squiggle, but there’s some great singles, LPs and CDs inside – so maybe get an original on Two Tone and party like it’s 1979. Go next door to Beat Nik for vintage clothing and you might fix yourself up with a Harrington jacket and a pork pie hat (failing that, bob back up to the market and get some packing tape, a bobble hat and a pork pie – let’s think outside the box).

Then for a sit down and a cuppa to look through all your new bits and pieces, or to wind up your grandfather clock, there’s a few options. Bakers ‘n’ Brew in the market vaults is an option – I’ve never actually seen it open but it gives the impression of being open sometimes, just not when I’m there, but you might be OK. Outside on the Newborough side Café Heart is really good with a funky vibe and great indoors/outdoors seating.

If you’re particularly peckish or about to attempt some sort of extreme swim to Germany and need to load up on carbs, head back up Newborough and try the Conservatory opposite Lloyds Bank. They serve a piece of caramel shortbread so big that most other places would call it a tray of caramel shortbread. In fact I did have a piece and now need to have a bit of a lie down, so over to you – best thing you purchased in the Market Vaults, other quirky shopping tips in the Scarborough area, heck, even Filey?

Kevern

http://www.ScarboroughWaves.co.uk

The Waves - Coastal Bed and Breakfast

52 Scarborough Highlights in 52 Weeks

Not everyone appreciates Scarborough’s charm. Sometimes, it’s because they arrive after sitting in a traffic jam for hours. Or they crowd onto a beach like a refugee camp, where aid seems to have been distributed in the form of Kiss Me Quck Hats, before losing ten pounds trying to win a pile of two pence pieces teetering on a ledge in a slot machine. They’ve missed out on Scarborough’s special charm.

My 2009 challenge, if I decide to accept it, is to discover 52 different highlights, lowlights, or happenings that are a part of Scarborough, North Yorkshire. Even then I'll just be scratching the surfact of why Scarborough is so unique - probably. Anyway, 52 highlights in 52 weeks, that's roughly one a week, so I'd better crack on...