The theatre reopened on Friday 22 April 2016 following a £6million redevelopment, with a new roof, an extended and re-modelled front of house area, a refurbished and redecorated main auditorium and with major improvements to access and environmental impact.

Wilkinson ran a company that included theatres in Hull, Leeds, Pontefract, Wakefield and other Yorkshire towns.

[2] In the late 1800s the theatre was refurbished into the Victorian style, including, in 1879, a new Gothic Revival frontage, which is decorated with carved heads representing Elizabeth I and characters from Shakespeare's plays.

The latest major redevelopment was an extensive renovation of the theatre, with a new modernist foyer (architect: Patrick Gwynne), in 1967.

[9] In 2022, the theatre welcomed the Kyiv City Ballet to the UK for the first time,[10] in order to raise funds for UNICEF's work in Ukraine.