BEHIND-THE-SCENES drama at the Haymarket theatre in Basingstoke took centre stage at an employment tribunal this week as the former theatre director claimed unfair dismissal.

The tribunal heard Alasdair Ramsay allege he was forced out of his job after six years at the helm, in favour of a less experienced member of staff, by Haymarket board members opposed to his artistic direction.

He said his redundancy was the result of a "fundamental problem" at the venue, which he described as "the seemingly irreconcilable tension between the funders, board, staff, volunteers and audiences as to what the Haymarket should be".

He told the tribunal: "Should it be an exciting, challenging, risk-taking and live-producing theatre, or a purveyor of easy-listening 'entertainment' which we are told 'the people of Basingstoke' supposedly want and which appears to offer more financial security?"

Mr Ramsay's redundancy came months after the board adopted his ambitious plans for international drama seasons at the Haymarket with French, Russian and Irish themes.

The tribunal heard his theatre director role at the venue was scrapped by the board in April 2004, and replaced with a chief executive's position, focused on administration and finances above artistic direction.

The three-strong panel was told by several people at the hearing that bosses made this move on the advice of a business consultant, who had been brought in to help solve the financial crisis at the venue.

The Haymarket is half-funded by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Hampshire County Council and the Arts Council to the tune of more than £700,000 a year. During the 2003-04 financial year, the tribunal heard its deficit doubled by about £70,000, to just less than £143,000.

Mr Ramsay, 55, from Dockenfield, near Farnham, told the tribunal the decision to scrap the "artistic lead" at the theatre in favour of an "administrative lead" was a shock decision about which he had not been consulted.

He said he was told to leave after declining to apply for the new chief executive job and refusing to accept the secondary artistic director's position offered to him.

Zo Curnow, 28, who Mr Ramsay had appointed as executive director in 2003, won the chief executive role.

Mr Ramsay said: "My dismissal, I believe, was purely a means of certain members of the board wanting to abandon the three-year programme of international plays they had collectively signed up for only six months before. In order to do this, they had to get rid of me."

In evidence to the Southampton tribunal, Catherine Hopkins -chairman of the Haymarket board who dismissed Mr Ramsay - refuted his allegations.

She told the tribunal Mr Ramsay had not been dismissed unfairly, as he had had no need to leave the theatre, having been offered the artistic director's role and after being invited to apply for the chief executive position.

She said she had taken on her chairmanship in December 2003, determined to overturn a previous board decision not to renew Mr Ramsay's contract. She said she had asked Mr Ramsay to stay on after achieving this, which he had agreed to do.

But she admitted she had sent e-mails to other people involved in the Haymarket that were critical of Mr Ramsay, one of which said: "secretly, I'm hoping he takes all this rope and hangs himself" - a comment she told the tribunal was "hugely unfortunate".

Ms Curnow told the tribunal the viability of the Haymarket remained under scrutiny, but she is confident it is on target to break even this year, "depending on the outcome of this hearing".

The tribunal - which has so far lasted three days - was adjourned.

It will hear more evidence when it reconvenes later in the spring.