Exclusive: Trafalgar Entertainment adds Fareham Live to theatre portfolio

"Expanding the venue portfolio is absolutely at the heart of our strategy because having venues allows us to showcase our content and reach audiences," Enright said, highlighting how its venues can host productions it produces such as The King and I and The Rocky Horror Show.

She added: "We produce a lot – we are very active producers – so it fits very well, as a strategy, having your venue portfolio where you can tour your own content and to have – through our ticketing activities – that connection with audiences. Then it becomes a much more virtuous circle. Theatre is a risky business but the more you can control... makes it much more sustainable."

Fareham Live will include a main auditorium that can seat 800 people, or 1,000 when seats are removed. In addition, it has a smaller performance space with a capacity of 120, as well as a studio space for community work.

It is owned by Fareham Borough Council and is on the site of the former Ferneham Hall.

Enright told The Stage: "It’s always exciting when there is a new venue and we are just excited to be there at the outset, where we can work with the local authority to input into the design and make sure the venue is the best it can be."

She said the area had a "great catchment" and added: "It’s an area that can sustain a new venue – and with the right programme we think it will do very very well."

Enright said the programme would be "broad" but said the venue would not be able to take the largest scale touring musicals.

"Mid-scale musicals we can present, and plays, and there will be a lot of community events, amateur productions and one-night content such as headline comedy acts and music acts. The whole range of content – that is plan," she said, adding there would be an annual pantomime.

Staffing levels have yet to be set for the venue, but Enright said the venue would provide a mix of permanent roles, such as management and administrative positions, alongside casual workers in front-of-house roles and behind the bar.

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Enright acknowledged that opening a new theatre against a backdrop of cost-of-living increases and following the impact of the pandemic presented challenges, with "some areas... slower to come back than others".

"But generally speaking theatre has come back very strongly. Pantomime sales year-on-year are pretty much up across the board, which is a good barometer. Panto goes on sale a year in advance and people are buying them in advance, and that is interesting," she said, adding: "Generally productions are doing pretty well."

She said working with the local community on the output would be "high on the agenda".

Speaking about TE’s expansion plans, she said it was possible there may be further venues added this year.

"Acquiring venues is always opportunistic, and it is just about what opportunities come our way but we are always on the lookout," she said, adding: "We are always talking to local authorities and so it’s possible."

Enright admitted that adding West End venues to a portfolio was harder.

"Whenever West End venues do come, they tend to go for trophy prices, which means standard operators can’t compete. We have Olympia coming along and other opportunities that may come to the market as well," she added.

The expansion of Trafalgar Entertainment

2017 – Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire launch Trafalgar Entertainment in 2017.

2017 – TE acquires global event cinema business Picturehouse Entertainment, which it rebrands as Trafalgar Releasing.

2018 – Trafalgar acquires Stagecoach Performing Arts.

2019 – Jonathan Church Productions launches with support from TE.

2020 – Trafalgar Entertainment became the new operator of the Theatre Royal Sydney.

2021 – TE acquires HQ Theatres, the UK’s largest specialist regional theatre operator with a portfolio of 12 theatres. Trafalgar also announces plans for 1,575-seat Olympia Theatre.

2021 – TE acquires Helen O’Grady Drama Academy. 

2022 – TE announces the creation of two new divisions – Trafalgar Theatres and Trafalgar Tickets – and acquires theatre app, Stagedoor.

2023 – TE acquires its first Scottish venue, the Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow and announces plans to operate Fareham Live.