Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre Reveals In-House Productions For 2026

The Stephen Joseph Theatre has announced the rest of its in-house productions for 2026. The Scarborough theatre recently announced that it would be producing Murder for Two (28 March to 18 April) and Calendar Girls the Musical (27 June to 25 July).

It will also be producing:

Handbagged (31 July to 29 August): Queen Elizabeth II: the monarch. Margaret Thatcher: her most powerful subject. Two women meet once a week for 11 years. One believes there’s no such thing as society. The other has committed her life to serving it. Moira Buffini's wickedly funny comedy imagines what happened behind closed palace doors when the world's most powerful women clashed. 

Winner of a 2014 Olivier Award and a West End smash hit, Handbagged takes us from 1979 to 1990 and asks if the Queen and the Iron Lady ever found common ground – or did their stiff upper lips reign supreme? 

The Trial of Romeo Oscar (4 September to 3 October): In the year 2194, humanity is scattered around the solar system and day-to-day life on earth looks very different. Preparations are underway for a landmark legal case. Romeo Oscar, a military issue android, is on trial for murder, the first non-human to be tried in a court of law. The circumstances surrounding the incident are unclear, the evidence is polarising, and selecting an impartial jury is proving a challenge.

Alan Ayckbourn’s latest play is a courtroom drama exploring a question that artists have been asking for centuries – what makes us human?  

Puss in Boots by Charles Perrault, adapted by Nick Lane (5 to 31 December): Sam is the unluckiest boy in Scarbarocia. Not as smart as his brother, not as popular as his sister. Small, shy, no good at anything and allergic to everything. So when his mum and dad give him a cat for Christmas, Sam is afraid he’ll sneeze himself into New Year. Not that anyone would notice. Or even care. Then the cat speaks to him. Suddenly the boot is on the other foot. Puss’s foot. And Sam’s life is about to get a whole lot more exciting!

The team that brought you the UK Theatre award-winning Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Sleeping Beauty invite you to spend Christmas with the craftiest cat in the Kingdom. There’ll be songs, silliness and more saucers of cream than you can shake a mouse at.* Fun for families (and felines) of all ages.

*You should never shake mice. They do not like it. At all.

And from the theatre’s youth theatre groups:

The Wind in the Willows (19 to 21 February): Step into the wonderful world of Kenneth Grahame’s book, adapted by the acclaimed playwright Mike Kenny and brought to life by the brilliant SJT Youth Theatre. Join Mole, Ratty, Badger, and the irrepressible Toad on a heart-warming adventure filled with friendship, mischief and lots of messing about in boats! 

A Night at the Movies (27 & 28 April): Disaster strikes at the Scarborough Odeon! The projector has gone bang and Alan the projectionist is stuck in a real-life game of Mission: Impossible with the wiring. Step forward Andy and... Andy! Ushers by day, movie stars by accident, ready to act out the greatest hits of the silver screen. With Sheila (off popcorn) directing like Gone with the Wind and Mr Arbuthnot, the cinema manager, losing the plot faster than Fast & Furious, the show must go on! 

Can our hapless heroes keep the crowd from making a Great Escape – or will this sequel flop harder than Cats? Join the members of the SJT Drama Club and Youth Theatre, in a show written by Rob Salmon, to find out!

 Woyzeck (13 to 16 May): Franz Woyzeck is a soldier trapped in poverty, bullied by his superiors and tormented by voices. To earn extra money, he signs up for medical experiments run by the military doctor. Soon he’s losing his grip on reality and is pushed to the very edge of sanity. 

Raw and unforgettable, Woyzeck is a haunting exploration of love, jealousy and the forces that drive us over the edge. It’s considered to be one of the first modern plays, a naturalistic tragedy and social critique about a soldier driven to madness. Daniel Kramer’s striking adaptation of Georg Büchner’s unfinished masterpiece is brought vividly to life by the acclaimed Stephen Joseph Theatre Young Company.

In addition, the SJT will holding its annual special fundraising event in the autumn.

From 18 to 20 September, fans of the theatre’s Director Emeritus Alan Ayckbourn can enjoy Welcome to Pendon, a reference to the fictional town which is the setting for many of his shows.

The weekend will start on the Friday with an evening of lively chat and discussion entitled Backstage Secrets, during which designers, stage manager and technicians who have worked at the SJT over the years will guide the audience entertainingly through the process of putting on a show, from the first idea to the opening night.

On the Sunday afternoon, there’ll be a rehearsed reading of Alan Ayckbourn’s Welcome to the Family, one of the few plays from the author’s canon which didn’t start life at the SJT – it premiered at the Old Laundry Theatre in Bowness-on-Windermere in 2023.