Sitting beside the Haymarket Shopping Centre on Belgrave Gate in Leicester city centre, the Haymarket Theatre has had one of the more eventful histories of any building in the city. Designed by Building Design Partnership as a replacement for the smaller Phoenix Theatre, it opened on 30 November 1973 when actor Sir Ralph Richardson performed the formal opening honours. The first production, The Recruiting Officer, had already taken to the stage on 17 October that year, followed by Economic Necessity and Cabaret before the official launch.
A Reputation Built on Musicals
The main auditorium originally seated 750 people, built with a large stage capable of staging opera or ballet, though its seating capacity was considered too small to make those genres financially viable. A rehearsal space was later converted into the Studio Theatre, an intimate secondary stage holding 120 people. The Haymarket quickly built a reputation for producing and developing stage musicals, a number of which transferred to the West End and to Broadway in New York. Several productions were mounted in collaboration with impresario Cameron Mackintosh. Early production directors Robin Midgley and Michael Bogdanov, along with American musical director Robert Mandell, helped shape that identity in the theatre’s formative years. Leicester City Council took on a 99-year lease of the building in 1974.
Closure, Revival, and the Curve
The Leicester Theatre Trust operated the Haymarket from 1973 until 2007, when it relocated to the newly built Curve Theatre in Leicester’s Cultural Quarter. The final production under the Trust was a staging of Wizard of Oz, featuring Helena Blackman in 2006. The building then sat empty for a decade. In June 2016, the Haymarket Consortium took over management with plans to reopen it as a performance, training, and e-sports venue. It reopened for performances on 2 March 2017, but closed again in March 2020 during the Coronavirus pandemic and entered liquidation in May 2020. Since 2023, the building has been operating as a teaching and performing base for a dance school.
The Metal Tree
At the entrance to the theatre stands the Metal Tree, a sculpture by artist Hubert Dalwood unveiled in 1974. For many years it was the only significant piece of abstract sculpture in Leicester city centre, and it remains a recognisable feature outside the building today.