COMEDY, dance, drama, music and a box of festive delights are on offer from Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre (SJT) in the upcoming autumn/winter season.

Following the world premiere of Alan Ayckbourn’s 79th play, Hero’s Welcome, which runs until October 3, and the exclusive gala reading of the playwright’s new work, The Divide, on September 27, the SJT welcomes a variety of visiting companies and productions from across the country from October to January.

Highlights include the latest from Northern Broadsides, John Godber and West Yorkshire Playhouse, as well as SJT’s staging of its Sixty by Sixty audio play project and its 2015 festive production, Hansel and Gretel.

For Christmas, SJT brings Grimm’s famous tale to life with a family feast of entertainment in Hansel and Gretel. This magical retelling, adapted by Mike Kenny, writer of the award-winning stage adaptation The Railway Children, is staged in the round with an enchanting acapella soundtrack and runs at the SJT from December 10 to 27, directed by SJT associate director Henry Bell.

Northern Broadsides returns following its critically-acclaimed production of King Lear earlier this year. In partnership with Harrogate Theatre, the company presents Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale from October 20 to 24. Directed by Conrad Nelson, The Winter’s Tale will transport you from the dark court of a jealous king to the bright sunshine of a rustic festival.

The theatre is delighted to welcome West Yorkshire Playhouse on its debut tour to the SJT from October 28 to 31 with Beryl. Maxine’s Peake’s witty, charming and critically-acclaimed play celebrates the life of an unsung sporting hero. The play looks back at the extraordinary sporting achievements of the Leeds-born cyclist Beryl Burton, who cycled her way into the record books becoming the greatest woman on two wheels.

For its 60th anniversary year, the SJT has recorded Sixty by Sixty, 60 sixty-second audio plays written by 20 established, 20 emerging and 20 community writers to celebrate the company’s history of new writing. The plays will be available to listen to at sjt.uk.com in the autumn, and there is also the chance to see all 60 plays in an exclusive performance directed by artistic director Chris Monks on October 31.

The John Godber Company and Theatre Royal Wakefield present Godber’s scorching new comedy Poles Apart from November 16 to 21. Godber examines the role of the theatre in the life of the working man in an uncompromising, unflinching and deliriously funny play looking at culture clashes up-close and personal from the top of a scaff tower.

From Paines Plough and Pentabus Theatre comes the hilarious, moving and beautifully directed Every Brilliant Thing, a new play with Jonny Donahoe based on true and untrue stories about depression and the lengths we will go to for those we love - October 16 and 17.

Deco Days, the theatre’s annual tribute to its art deco Odeon building, features Swinging at the Cotton Club with The Jiving Lindy Hoppers and Harry Strutters’ Hot Rhythm Orchestra on November 7 and celebrates the femme fatale in themed workshops and film screenings from the era on November 6 and 7.

Alongside Hansel and Gretel, Clive Francis repeats his acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company performance as Ebenezer Scrooge in his one-man adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol on December 3 and 4, and Dyad Productions resurrects a Victorian tradition by presenting three seasonal tales of terror to scintillate the gooseflesh in Christmas Gothic on December 18 and 19.

There is also a diverse programme of one-night-only shows, including The Bogus Woman, a heart-wrenching story of an African woman who arrives in England seeking safety and asylum, on October 9. That’s Amore, on October 10, is a hilarious, fast-paced and passionate piece of physical theatre exploring the world and culture of romantic love; Jim Crace’s award-winning historical novel The Gift of Stones is brought to life by the imaginative North Country Theatre on October 27, contemporary African dance troupe Tavaziva present Africarmen loosely based on George Bizet’s Carmen on November 4 and Confirmation, winner of The Scotsman Fringe First Award, is a show about the gulfs we can’t talk across, November 5.

For music lovers, there is everything from the Ugandan Pearl of Africa Choir presented by Scarborough Rotary Club on October 7, to Scarborough’s own Tom Townsend on October 8, a special concert in memory of Peter Cropper who founded Music in the Round on November 10, folk duo The Unthanks on November 14 and SJT festive favourites Holly at Christmas on December 5 and, in the new year, the Big Screen Trio on January 2 and Hammonds Saltaire Band on January 9 and 10.

The SJT OutReach department presents work by and for the community in Plays & Pinot, a series of rehearsed play readings by local writers on the theme of Scarborough Out of Season on September 20 and 21, and the Stephen Joseph Youth Theatre presents two children’s favourite Tiny Time Tales series - Jim of the Garden on October 10 and November 14 and Swotty McPhearson’s Christmas Quiz from December 12 to 17.

The new programme of live streaming includes The Beaux Stratagem on September 3, Hamlet on October 15, Jane Eyre on December 8, from the National Theatre; Romeo and Juliet on September 22, The Marriage of Figaro on October 5, a mixed ballet programme on November 12, Cavalleria Rusticana on December 10 and The Nutcracker on December 16 from the Royal Opera House; Henry V on October 21, from the Royal Shakespeare Company; The Battle of Britain at 75, on September 18; and The Importance of Being Earnest on October 8, from London’s Vaudeville.

Tickets are available from the box office on 01723 370541 and online at sjt.uk.com