Built in 1806, with Royal Assent from the Prince of Wales the theatre first opened its doors to the public on Saturday June 27 1807 with a performance of Hamlet and The Weather Cock, starring Charles Kemble of Drury Lane. The theatre struggled in it's early years, until in 1854 actor Henry John Nye Chart took over and turned its fortunes and reputation around turning an insignificant and disreputable playhouse into a nationally respected institution. When Nye Chart died in 1876, his wife Ellen Elizabeth Nye Chart took over the management; with considerable flair and imagination she secured the Theatre’s national reputation as one of the most prestigious venues outside of London. She introduced the matinee and gave tickets for the annual Christmas pantomimes to inmates of the Workhouses. Her legacy was to be one of the first women theatre managers with pioneering audience development skills. By the end of the nineteenth century Theatre Royal Brighton had established itself as The Actors Theatre where every major actor of the day had graced the stage, including the Kemble & Siddon Families, Sarah Bernhardt, Edmund Kean, David Garrick and Sir Henry Irving graced the stage.

Through the twentieth century the Theatre grew in stature and national reputation. International playwright Ibsen premiered a UK production of The Doll’s House at the Theatre. Later Rattigan, Coward and Orton plays opened as a try out date before a London West End run. The Redgrave Family, Lord Olivier, John Gielgud, Marlene Dietrich, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Rex Harrison, Dame Judy Dench and Paul Scofield are but a few of the stars who performed on the famous stage.