4 January 2024
Trafalgar Entertainment’s Joint CEOs and Co-Founders, Sir Howard Panter and Dame Rosemary Squire move into the Top 10 of The Stage 100 today, as the theatre industry publication unveils its annual countdown of the most influential people in UK theatre. The couple are placed at number 8 on this year’s list.
The Stage says: “Husband-and-wife team Panter and Squire are former number ones, having repeatedly topped this list while leaders of Ambassador Theatre Group. Since their departures from ATG in 2016, the pair have been busy building their new company Trafalgar Entertainment into a genuine rival for UK theatre’s leading venue operator.
“Trafalgar now runs 14 UK theatres, plus one in Australia. Fareham Live is to launch this year and the new Olympia Theatre in London is also in the offing, although opening plans have yet to be confirmed. The group also owns cinemas, stage schools and ticketing agencies. On the production front, it acquired pantomime producer Imagine last year and secured a three-year deal with London’s Barbican Centre to produce musicals at the venue. These will follow its big 2023 opening, the Pulitzer-winning musical A Strange Loop.”
Productions include: A Strange Loop, The King and I, The Rocky Horror Show, Jersey Boys, The Merchant of Venice 1936, Clueless
Panter and Squire formed Trafalgar Entertainment in 2017, a premium international live entertainment business focussed on new productions, venue ownership, Performing Arts education, theatre ticketing, the distribution of live-streaming innovative content and the provision of great theatres where people can come together to share in the experience of live entertainment.
TE is home to Trafalgar Theatres (comprising Trafalgar Theatre and Olympia Theatre in London, Theatre Royal Sydney in Australia, and 14 UK regional venues), The Chiswick Cinema, Trafalgar Theatre Productions, Trafalgar Releasing, Trafalgar Tickets, Stagecoach Performing Arts, Drama Kids/Helen O’Grady Drama Academy, ticketing company London Theatre Direct, Stagedoor, Jonathan Church Theatre Productions and Imagine Theatre.