The Square Cat: Articles

This section features articles about Alan Ayckbourn's play The Square Cat. Click on the link in the right-hand column below to go to the relevant article.

This article was written by Stephen Joseph - the founder of the Library Theatre and Alan Ayckbourn's most significant mentor and influence - for the world premiere programme for The Square Cat in 1959.

The Square Cat

Why have you come to see this play? We hope that you are looking for entertainment, and that tonight's performance will give it you in good measure. But, in Scarborough, we compete with the weather and when the evenings are fine our audiences are small - people want to enjoy the good holiday air.

Sometimes we begin to think that our welfare depends on bad weather!

Another factor that alters the size of our audiences is, of course, the play. A play that has been successful in the west-end of London tends to attract more than a new play, a comedy more than a drama.

But we have, ourselves, an immense love of the theatre and we always hope that the plays we enjoy, our audiences will enjoy also. So we include a number of new plays in our repertoire - trusting that other people will share our enjoyment. We present a serious play because we know it is rich in entertainment. And we want to try and persuade you to back our choice.

We have deliberately set out to provide in Scarborough plays that are well worth seeing; whether they are obviously "popular" or not does not concern us. There are plenty of good plays that are not frequently performed and plenty of bad plays that are very popular indeed!

Your taste will not always be the same as ours, but we hope that you will find that most of our performances do give you the entertainment you expect.

The only way this company can continue to operate is with the support of the audiences, so please tell your friends if you enjoy the plays - and your friends may enjoy them even if you don't!

And don't wait to be told if the next play is any good, of course it is, otherwise we wouldn't put it on!

And even if you hear a rumour that the play isn't good, take no notice, come and see for yourself. Further, let us know what you think about the play, come and talk to us over a cup of coffee after the performance.

Copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust. Please do not reproduce without permission of the copyright holder.