Trafalgar Entertainment

The Story of Trafalgar Entertainment

Co-founded by Sir Howard Panter and Dame Rosemary Squire in 2017, Trafalgar Entertainment is a premium international live entertainment business focussed on new productions, the distribution of live-streaming innovative content and the provision of amazing spaces where people can come together to share in the experience of live entertainment. TE is home to Trafalgar Theatre, Theatre Royal Sydney, HQ Theatres and Hospitality, Trafalgar Theatre Productions, Trafalgar Releasing, Stagecoach Performing Arts, London Theatre Direct, Luke Shires Marketing, Jonathan Church Theatre Productions, Chiswick Cinema and More2Screen.

In 2017, the company acquired Trafalgar Releasing who broadcast productions live worldwide, from The RSC, Glyndebourne, Met Opera, Bolshoi Ballet and Royal Opera House to David Gilmour, Muse, Coldplay, BTS, The Cure, Metallica, Shakira, Depeche Mode, Gorillaz, Little Mix, Nick Cave and Trafalgar Theatre Productions’ The King and I, live from the iconic London Palladium among many other events. The following year, Trafalgar Entertainment acquired Stagecoach Performing Arts, the UK market leader in extra-curricular Performing Arts tuition with over 2,000 schools and classes and over 50,000 students in the UK and worldwide. In 2019, Trafalgar Entertainment began new partnerships with Luke Shires Marketing, More2Screen and London Theatre Direct, one of the UK’s leading ticket retailers and distributors.

Later in the year, Jonathan Church Theatre Productions was launched to create theatrical work including new and classic musicals and plays for London, the UK regions and internationally with award-winning theatre director and producer Jonathan Church as Artistic Director. In 2020, Trafalgar Entertainment became the new operator of the Theatre Royal Sydney which is planned to reopen late 2021 as the cornerstone of TE’s Asia-Pacific operation. In March 2021, it was announced that HQ Theatres & Hospitality, the UK’s largest specialist regional theatre operator, would be joining the Trafalgar Entertainment family of brands. The largest shareholder of Trafalgar Entertainment is Barings Alternative Investment, which operates as a subsidiary of MassMutual Holding LLC, with assets under management of US$771 billion. Other shareholders include Greg Dyke, James Tanner, NWH Consulting Ltd, Sir Richard Branson and Griffon Corporation.

The production arm of Trafalgar Entertainment, Trafalgar Theatre Productions, produces new shows and classic musicals in London and internationally including the Tony and Olivier award-winning smash hit musical, Jersey Boys, which will open London’s new Trafalgar Theatre in 2021, a major revival of the classic musical, Anything Goes, starring Megan Mullally, Robert Lindsay, Felicity Kendal and Gary Wilmot at the Barbican Theatre in the summer of 2021, the hilarious new comedy, Death Drop, at the Garrick Theatre, the 2021 World Tour of The Rocky Horror Show, the Lincoln Center’s award-winning production of The King and I at the London Palladium and worldwide, and a co-production of War Horse with The National Theatre in Australia and Asia-Pacific.

Before Trafalgar Entertainment, Howard and Rosemary built from scratch and ran for its first 25 years, one of the world’s largest and most successful live theatre businesses – the Ambassador Theatre Group Ltd (ATG). Under their leadership, ATG became a premier international theatre owner and prolific, successful global producer.