Curve Theatre, Leicester
Encyclopedia
Curve is a theatre in Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...

, England, based in the Cultural quarter in Leicester City Centre
Leicester City Centre
Leicester City Centre is an area covering the core inner city area and central business district of the city of Leicester, England. It is roughly delineated from Leicester's suburbs by the A594, Leicester's inner ring road....

. Before being named Curve, it was referred to as Leicester Performing Arts Centre. It is adjacent to the Leicester Athena
Leicester Athena
Athena is a conferencing and banqueting venue in the heart of the new cultural quarter of Leicester City Centre, in the United Kingdom.-History:...

 conference and banqueting centre.

About Curve

Leicester's state of the art theatre, designed by world renowned architect Rafael Viñoly
Rafael Viñoly
Rafael Viñoly is an Uruguayan architect living in the United States.-Biography:He was born in Montevideo, Uruguay to Román Viñoly Barreto, and Maria Beceiro ....

 is based in the heart of what the City Council calls the new "Cultural Quarter" on Rutland Street. Curve features two auditoria, one with 750 fixed seats while a 350 seat auditorium provides a versatile smaller space with its own power flying system
Fly system
A fly system, flying system or theatrical rigging system, is a system of lines , blocks , counterweights and related devices within a theatre that enable a stage crew to quickly, quietly and safely fly components such as curtains, lights, scenery, stage effects and, sometimes, people...

. When the 32 tonne steel walls separating the stage and the foyer are lifted, the stage is visible from street level. The glass façade encloses an open plan foyer with views onto the café, bars, backstage area, and across the stage.

The theatre was built by a partnership of Leicester City Council
Leicester City Council
Leicester City Council is a unitary authority responsible for local government in the city of Leicester, England. It consists of 54 councillors, representing 22 wards in the city, overseen by a directly elected mayor. It is currently controlled by the Labour Party and has been led by Mayor Sir...

, Arts Council England
Arts Council England
Arts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport...

 (with funds from The National Lottery), East Midlands Development Agency
East Midlands Development Agency
East Midlands Development Agency is the regional development agency for the East Midlands region of England formed in 1999.-Structure and function:...

, Leicester Shire Economic Partnership, with the project part-financed by the European Union (ERDF), in partnership with Leicester Theatre Trust and in association with Phoenix Arts Centre
Phoenix Arts Centre
Upper Brown Street is a theatre in the city centre of Leicester, England. The centre hosted live shows and films of the arthouse and world cinema genres. In 2010 it was reborn as an important music training and performance venue under a new name.- History :In the 1963 Leicester City Council ...

. The project was blighted by huge cost increases that have more the doubled from the initial estimates.

The theatre opened on 11 November 2008 with a celebratory opening show called Lift Off. This was followed by Simply Cinderella, which ran from 4 Dec 2008 (the day it was officially opened by the Queen) until 24 Jan 2009 – a brand new musical of the fairytale, written by Grant Olding and Toby Davies, and directed by world renowned dancer Adam Cooper
Adam Cooper (dancer)
Adam Cooper is an English dancer, choreographer and theatre director who has worked in many fields of dance. He is most noted as a dancer of classical ballet and is a former Principal of the Royal Ballet, a major international ballet company based in London...

.

Notable Productions

Simply Cinderella by Grant Olding and Toby Davis (2008-2009)


Peter Pan-The Musical
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...

 by Julian Ronnie and Paul Miller (2009-2010)


A Festival Of Friel: Molly Sweeney
Molly Sweeney
Molly Sweeney is a two-act play by Brian Friel. It tells the story of its title character, Molly, a woman blind since infancy, who undergoes an operation to try to restore her sight. Like Friel's Faith Healer, the play tells Molly's story through monologues by three characters, in this case Molly,...

and Translations by Brain Friel
Brian Friel
Brian Friel is an Irish dramatist, author and director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He is considered to be the greatest living English-language dramatist, hailed by the English-speaking world as an "Irish Chekhov" and "the universally accented voice of Ireland"...




The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...

by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II (2010-2011)


Absurd Person Singular
Absurd Person Singular
Absurd Person Singular is a 1972 play by Alan Ayckbourn. Divided into three acts, it documents the changing fortunes of three married couples...

by Alan Ayckbourn
Alan Ayckbourn
Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE is a prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their...

(2011)

Leicester Theatre Trust

Curve is run by the Leicester Theatre Trust (LTT), an independent charitable organisation. LTT took over the operation of Curve in August 2008. The Leicester Theatre Trust formed in 1969, it is a regularly funded client of Arts Council England (ACE) and receives annual revenue funding from Leicester City Council.

From 1973 to 2007 the organisation programmed and operated the Haymarket Theatre
Haymarket Theatre (Leicester)
The Haymarket Theatre was a theatre in Leicester, England, based in the Haymarket Shopping Centre on Belgrave Gate in Leicester city centre. The theatre closed at the end of 2006 and has been replaced by the Curve Theatre...

.

External links

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