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A 1967 obituary in The Times labelled Stephen Joseph 'the most successful missionary to work in the English theatre since the second world war'.

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Stephen Joseph

British theatre director

For the historian of photography, see Steven F. Joseph.

Stephen Joseph (13 June 1921 – 4 October 1967)^[1] was an English stage director.

Life

Stephen Joseph was born in London, the child of actress Hermione Gingold and the publisher Michael Joseph. He was educated at Clayesmore School in Dorset. At the age of 16 he became a student of the Central School of Speech and Drama, where he graduated two years later. From 1941 to 1946 he served as an officer in the Royal Navy, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

After the war he studied English literature at Jesus College, Cambridge, leading to the award of an MA degree. While at Cambridge he joined Footlights and both wrote and directed La Vie Cambridgienne, a revue broadcast by the BBC in July 1948.

In November 1948 he joined the Lowestoft Repertory Theatre as director, then moved on to manage the Summer Theatre season at Frinton-on-Sea. While there he saw a production by Jack Mitchley of the Christopher Fry play A Phoenix too Frequent, s

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Stephen Joseph, who was born a hundred years ago this year, did not live long enough for his role in contemporary theatre to emerge clearly. He is known above all as the advocate of theatre-in-the-round, but that was one of the outcomes of his thinking, not his primary motivation. Performance in-the-round was for him a reliable way of gathering people together, mentally and physically, in the same space as the action. His aim was a theatre for the people, not in a theoretical or political sense, but as a shared experience. He did not have grandiose theatre visions, but pursued small-scale projects that were intended to demystify the stage. “The phenomenon of the theatre is simply this, that there should be a huge celebration, communally done by audience and actors alike; it says ‘Hurray, we are human beings! We can do things. We have control over our own destiny. Life is exciting! Life is beautiful!” (Joseph, Actor and Architect 115). Scroll to the end of the article for the origin of this and further references.

Stephen Joseph’s life has inspired two biographies:

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Who Was Stephen Joseph?

More in-depth details about Stephen Joseph, his life ands achievements can be found on our sister site, A Round Town, which looks at Stephen Joseph and theatre in the round in Scarborough.

Who Was Stephen Joseph?

It’s a fair question. Who was Stephen Joseph? Even in Scarborough, where a theatre bears his name, the majority of people would not be able to tell you who he was or why he's significant in British theatre.

Stephen Joseph is essentially one of the great unsung heroes in British theatre during the 1950s and 1960s. He was responsible for pioneering new theatre forms in this country and was a passionate advocate of new writing and new playwrights.

He is also, even within theatre circles, largely unrecognised for his achievements.

But perhaps who he is, is less important than what he represented and what he achieved. The facts about Stephen’s life can easily be found, but it is why Stephen Joseph is important and significant to Scarborough and British theatre that is the more pertinent and relevant question.

He was a pioneer.