More than 180,000 people paid to attend performances at Leicester’s Curve between September 2011 and August this year—an increase of eight per cent on the previous 12 months.
Figures just released show that revenue from ticket sales totalled £2.88 million in 2011-12. That is more than double the amount during the first year after the theatre opened in 2008.
Curve chief executive Fiona Allan commented: "We've had a bumper year with some really great musicals, some terrific drama and world premières.
“We're really pleased that year on year we've been growing ticket sales, given that we opened in a recession.
"It's taken a while for people to connect with Curve. Possibly it took a couple of years to get the balance of the programme right and now we're seeing the audience respond to that."
Curve has had a strong start to the new year. The world première of Harvey Weinstein's Finding Neverland played to more than 18,000 people and there were sell-out houses for the National Theatre's touring production of One Man, Two Guvnors starring Rufus Hound.
Earlier this year, Leicester's elected mayor Sir Peter Soulsby described the £61 million Curve as "the most expensive and most disastrous project this city has ever seen in its history".
Three years before that the Audit Commission had said the cost of Curve did not represent value for money.
Three subsidised venues in Leicester, Curve, the digital media centre Phoenix Square and De Montfort Hall, are now under review by the city council which is looking at their cultural and economic impact.