SIX brand new plays, including one by an actor who appeared in the production of By Jeeves which opened the theatre in 1996, will take centre stage at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre in an evening of rehearsed readings.

Second Stage on Tuesday 16 May will bring together excerpts from five plays, plus one complete short play, that have recently been submitted to the SJT’s literary department. All will be performed as script-in-hand rehearsed readings.

They include three plays by established writers Deborah McAndrew, Sean Cook, and the third a collaboration between Andrew Martin, David Secombe and Jack Tarlton; one from local Scarborough writer Sue Wilding, and two by actors Michael Billington and Simon Paisley Day – Gussie Fink-Nottle in By Jeeves – who will read a part in his own play.

The SJT’s Artistic Director, Paul Robinson, said: “This is the perfect opportunity for audiences to see some of the best new work that has landed at the SJT over the last few months. It’s a real mix of work with one overriding feature: quality. Do come along so you can say you saw it here first!”

Andrew Martin is a novelist and best-known for the Jim Stringer mysteries, one of which, The Last Train to Scarborough, was adapted for the SJT in 2014. Deborah McAndrew works regularly with Northern Broadsides – her adaptation of Cyrano was seen at the SJT in April. Sean Cook has had short plays performed at Theatre503, Southwark Playhouse and The Space, a full-length piece at Ashcroft, Croydon, and a rehearsed reading at Lincoln Performing Arts.

Sue Wilding is well known to Scarborough audiences having written many plays which have been performed both locally and further afield, including Flash, Bam, Alakazam and Hello Darkness My Old Friend. Sue is part of the SJT’s Write Stuff writers’ workshop.

Simon Paisley Day was a regular at the SJT in the 1990s, notably appearing in Alan Ayckbourn and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s By Jeeves as well as Love Off The Shelf and Mr A’s Amazing Maze Plays in 1993.

The evening will starts at 7pm, and will see two pieces performed in the Round, two in the McCarthy auditorium and two in the theatre’s bar, with the audience moving from one performance space to the next and finally coming together in the bar for a discussion led by Paul Robinson.

The plays are:

The Lost Lands of Arthur Conan Doyle by Andrew Martin, David Secombe and Jack Tarlton

Dino by Michael Billington

Yen by Deborah McAndrew

A Ghost You Can See by Sue Wilding

Joy Lane by Simon Paisley Day

Postcards from the Cliff by Sean Cook

Directors will include Cheryl Govan, the SJT’s Associate Director (Young People and Community).

Tickets for Second Stage are £6.50, and can be booked by calling the box office on 01723 370541 or visiting the website: www.sjt.uk.com