The artistic director of the Barbican has blamed the conservatism of producers for a string of failures at West End theatres.
Graham Sheffield's criticism follows a gloomy period in theatreland with sales down on last year's poor performance.
Mr Sheffield, describing the success of the Barbican International Festival of Theatre, said: "We are trying not to operate in the middle of the road.
"It's the adventurous stuff that does better.
"We are doing very well. We do like to think it is something to do with our programming."
In recent years empty theatres were blamed on the fall in tourists heading for the capital, but Mr Sheffield appears to blame the shows' producers for flops.
Mr Sheffield said the public's taste was moving towards "the unusual".
However, Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen, president of the Society of London Theatre, denied the failures were due to unimaginative offerings.
He pointed to "hugely adventurous stuf f " such as Pirandello and Guantanamo that have "not done well".
