Curve

Opened in 2008, Curve is an ambitious centre for the performing arts at the heart of Leicester’s burgeoning 'Cultural Quarter'. The building is itself the city’s architectural highlight, a sweeping, gleaming structure designed by the Uruguayan Rafael Vinoly. The glass facade wraps itself round an open-plan foyer, which houses a café and a bar, and beyond are two auditoria, one with 750 seats, the other with half that. Unusually, the steel walls separating the stage and the foyer can be lifted, fusing the two areas into one. Curve offers a varied programme of the performing arts – Abba Mania, Twelfth Night and an Alan Bennett play have all featured in 2013 – but it’s perhaps best known for its musical theatre.