Researching Alan Ayckbourn: The Victoria Theatre Collection

The Victoria Theatre - now the New Vic Theatre - was founded by the theatre pioneer Stephen Joseph in 1962 and Alan Ayckbourn was a founding member of the company. The theatre is considered to be the first purpose-built theatre-in-the-round venue in the UK and the sister company to the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough.
The Victoria Theatre was founded in Stoke-on-Trent by Stephen Joseph in 1962 following his founding of Studio Theatre Ltd at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, in 1955 (the UK's first professional in-the-round company).

Between 1962 and 1964, Alan Ayckbourn was a writer, director, actor and founding member of the Victoria Theatre and wrote, directed and acted at the Victoria Theatre alongside its long-standing Artistic Director Peter Cheeseman.

The Victoria Theatre Collection, held at Staffordshire University, contains material pertaining to the creation of the Victoria Theatre as well as its complete history and its move to its current home The New Vic. It includes material pertaining to Stephen Joseph as well as the period in which Alan Ayckbourn worked at the venue.

It is also the single most important research resource pertaining to the theatre production, documentary research and community work carried out by Peter Cheeseman's internationally famous, Victoria Theatre Company between 1962 and 1998, which has been meticulously recorded, archived and preserved over four decades.