Since 1980, the theatre has presented a wide range of plays reflecting the cultural diversity of the area, as well as new writing, political work and verbatim reconstructions of public inquiries.

The theatre has produced original work by playwrights such as Lynn Nottage, Patrick Barlow, Richard Bean, David Edgar, Stephen Jeffreys, Abi Morgan, Simon Stephens, Roy Williams, Lolita Chakrabarti, Moira Buffini, Alexi Kaye Campbell, Florian Zeller, Ayad Akhtar and Zadie Smith.

The company commissioned new plays which it presented at arts centres around the country and then brought into small London theatres, such as The Bush and King's Head.

The Wakefield Tricycle produced over 60 plays including works by Sam Shepard, John Antrobus, Olwen Wymark and co-founder Barrie.

[18] The theatre received public support from various industry professionals, including an open letter in The Guardian from actors Jim Carter and Imelda Staunton and articles from critics Lyn Gardner and Matt Trueman, as well as arts writer Jessie Thompson.

[19][20][21][22] In September 2018 The Stage published an open letter in support of Kiln Theatre, including signatures from Richard Bean, Moira Buffini, Dominic Cooke, David Eldridge, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Simon Stephens and Erica Whyman.

[23] Later that month, The Guardian published an open letter[24] opposed to the name change, including signatures from both former Artistic Directors (Ken Chubb and Nicolas Kent) and 13 others, including several former Trustees (Pam Jordan, Tim Foster, Nicholas Allott, Mark Cummins, Rosalie Horner, Martin Dives, Errol Lloyd, Mustapha Matura, Janet Mokades, Andree Molyneux, Stephen Phillips and James Shillingford).

In October 2018, the Camden New Journal published an open letter calling for the name of the Tricycle Theatre to be reinstated, signed by Sally Greengross, Michael Codron, Lord Cashman, Ken Livingstone, Clive Hirschhorn, Martin Yates, Anita Dobson, Christopher Biggins, Bradley Walsh, Mark Thomas, Lesley Joseph, Les Dennis, Bobby Crush, Lorraine Chase, Mark Curry, Anne Reid, Joe Pasquale, Sandra Dickinson, Linda Hayden, Ray Cooney, Christina Lamb, Robin Soans, Paul Freeman, Joan Ann Maynard and Clarke Peters.

[26] In 1984 co-founder Ken Chubb turned leadership over to new artistic director Nicolas Kent, who had previously brought a successful production of Playboy of the West Indies by Mustapha Matura to the theatre with the Oxford Playhouse Company.

[3][6][7] From 1994, during the tenure of Nicolas Kent as artistic director, the theatre established a reputation for its distinctive "tribunal plays" based on verbatim reconstructions of public inquiries.

In 1994 the theatre produced Half the Picture by Richard Norton-Taylor and John McGrath (a dramatisation of the Scott Arms to Iraq Inquiry), which was the first play ever to be performed in the Houses of Parliament.

The next, marking the 50th anniversary of the 1946 War Crimes Tribunal, was Nuremberg, which was followed by Srebrenica – the UN Rule 61 Hearings, which later transferred to the National Theatre and the Belfast Festival at Queen's.

In 2007 Called to Account – the indictment of Tony Blair for the crime of aggression against Iraq – a hearing was staged at the Tricycle with evidence from American political lobbyist Richard Perle, the Chilean Ambassador to the United Nations Security Council in 2003, Juan Gabriel Valdes, and ex-Cabinet Minister Clare Short.

[82] Nick Cohen, writing in The Spectator, accused the Tricycle of inconsistency, as other groups' or events' funding had not, he claimed, previously been examined in this way.

[84] Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport was reported as saying that the theatre had been "misguided" in demanding the festival drop its sponsorship by the Israeli Embassy.