The first Hay Market theatre was built in 1720 by John Potter,[4] carpenter, on the site of The King's Head Inn in the Haymarket and a shop in Suffolk Street kept by Isaac Bliburgh, a gunsmith, and known by the sign of the Cannon and Musket.

Fielding himself was responsible for the instigation of the Act, having produced a play called The Historical Register that parodied prime minister Robert Walpole, as the caricature, Quidam.

The work debuted at the Haymarket Theatre, where its coded attack on Walpole would have been clear, but its long run occurred after it moved to Covent Garden, which had a much greater capacity for staging.

The conjuror's publicity claimed that, while on stage, he would place his body inside an empty wine bottle, in full view of the audience.

[10] In 1758 Theophilus Cibber obtained from William Howard, then the Lord Chamberlain, a general licence under which Foote tried to establish the Haymarket as a regular theatre.

[11] All the buildings on the east of the Haymarket from the theatre southward were rebuilt circa 1820 in connection with John Nash's schemes for the improvement of the neighbourhood.

The main front feature of Nash's elevation in the Haymarket was (and is) a pedimented portico of six Corinthian columns which extends in depth to the edge of the pavement and includes the whole frontage.

The first was his early burlesque, Robinson Crusoe; or, The Injun Bride and the Injured Wife (1867, written with Byron, Tom Hood, H. S. Leigh and Arthur Sketchley).

[16] In 2009, The Daily Telegraph reported that the actor Patrick Stewart saw the ghost standing in the wings during a performance of Waiting for Godot at the Haymarket.

[citation needed] The abolition of the pit by the introduction of stalls seating divided by plain iron arms caused the opening night play, Money, on 31 January 1880, to be delayed for half an hour while the audience in the galleries expressed their anger.

Mr. Bancroft, in the character of Sir Frederick Blount, vainly endeavoured to pacify them, until he bluntly asked whether the play should proceed and thus obtained silence.

Productions from then to the end of World War I included Bunty Pulls the Strings (1911), a Scottish comedy by Graham Moffat, which ran for 617 performances with Jimmy Finlayson in the lead; Ibsen's Ghosts (1914); Elegant Edward, with Henry Daniell as P. C. Hodson (1915);[25] The Widow's Might (1916), a comedy by Leonard Huskinson and Christopher Sandeman, with Henry Daniell.

[31] For the Coronation season in 1953, Coward gave a rare performance in a play not written by him, The Apple Cart by George Bernard Shaw, with Margaret Leighton as his co-star.

[35] In the 1960s, notable presentations included The Tulip Bee by N. C. Hunter starring Celia Johnson and John Clements and Thornton Wilder's Ides of March directed by Gielgud (both 1963).

Productions of the decade included a revival of Enid Bagnold's The Chalk Garden, with Gladys Cooper (1971, which had played at the Haymarket in 1956–57); the long-running A Voyage Round My Father (John Mortimer) starring Alec Guinness, succeeded by Michael Redgrave (1971–72); and, in 1972, Crown Matrimonial by Royce Ryton, starring Wendy Hiller as Queen Mary.

[37] Later productions included a revival of On Approval (Frederick Lonsdale) with Geraldine McEwan and Edward Woodward (1975); The Circle, with Googie Withers and John McCallum (1976); Rosmersholm (Ibsen) with Claire Bloom and Daniel Massey (1977); The Millionairess (Shaw), with Penelope Keith;[38] Waters of the Moon again, starring Hiller and Ingrid Bergman in her last stage role (both 1978);[39] and Keith Michell and Susan Hampshire in The Crucifer of Blood (1979).

[43] Burning Blue (1995), a new play by the first time playwright David Greer, was followed by the veteran director Peter Hall's revival of Ibsen's The Master Builder, starring Alan Bates.

[44] Hall also directed the 1996 An Ideal Husband (Oscar Wilde) 100 years after its première at the Haymarket; the new production featured Martin Shaw as Lord Goring.

[47] Hall was in charge again for the 1997 production of A Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams), starring Jessica Lange;[48] Lady Windermere's Fan; and An Ideal Husband (returning after touring).

[49] The last production of that year was A Delicate Balance (Edward Albee), starring Eileen Atkins, Maggie Smith, John Standing and Annette Crosbie.

[50] In 1998, Shakespeare's Villains a one-man play, created and performed by Steven Berkoff at the theatre was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment.

[52] In 1999, Fascinating Aïda's comic revue was followed by Neil Simon's The Prisoner of Second Avenue, with Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason;[53] Love Letters, by A. R. Gurney, with Charlton Heston[54] and a transfer of the Chichester Festival Theatre's The Importance of Being Earnest, starring Patricia Routledge.

[55] Productions at the Haymarket in this century have included The Royal Family by Edna Ferber, starring Judi Dench (2001), Lady Windermere's Fan, directed by Peter Hall, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Joely Richardson (2002),[56] and Dench appeared on stage together with Maggie Smith for the first time in over 40 years in The Breath of Life by David Hare (2002).

[59] In 2004, the theatre presented a stage adaptation of the film, When Harry Met Sally..., starring Luke Perry and Alyson Hannigan, during which the house closed for two nights after bits of the ceiling fell during a performance injuring fifteen people.

[74] In 2010 Waiting for Godot was repeated with McKellen, Roger Rees, Matthew Kelly and Pickup, followed by a transfer of Sweet Charity from the Menier Chocolate Factory.

[76] Trevor Nunn became Artistic Director 2011, producing a revival of Flare Path,[77] as part of the playwright Terence Rattigan's centenary year celebrations, starring Sienna Miller, James Purefoy and Sheridan Smith; the Chichester Festival Theatre's revival of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard;[78] Ralph Fiennes as Prospero in The Tempest;[79] and, over the Christmas/New Year season, Robert Lindsay and Joanna Lumley in The Lion in Winter.

[81] In 2014, a stage adaptation of the film Fatal Attraction, directed by Nunn, premiered at the theatre,[82] and Maureen Lipman and Harry Shearer starred in Daytona.

[88] Productions in 2016 included a revival of Alan Ayckbourn's How the Other Half Loves, starring Nicholas Le Prevost, Jenny Seagrove, Tamzin Outhwaite and Jason Merrells,[89] and Pixie Lott made her debut at the Haymarket as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

[98] It closed at the end of April 2023 after over 1,000 performances, making it the longest-running show in the Haymarket's history,[99] and was followed by a limited run of Accidental Death of an Anarchist starring Daniel Rigby.

Other productions scheduled are The Score, a new play by Oliver Cotton, starring Brian Cox as Johann Sebastian Bach and Tamsin Greig in a revival of Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea.