Princess Theatre supports rising stars at Torbay Business Awards

The Princess Theatre in Torquay is proud to sponsor the Rising Star category at the 2025 Torbay Naturally Inspiring Business Awards for the second year running.

Through its support, the theatre hopes to celebrate emerging talent in the Bay, inspiring individuals to build their careers and share their achievements with the local community.

The Torbay Weekly spoke with Theatre Director Annie Mason about the theatre’s history, values, and plans for the future.

Above: Theatre Director Annie Mason

Can you give us a brief history of the Princess Theatre and its significance in Torquay’s cultural scene?

The Princess Theatre opened in 1961, with Tommy Cooper and Morecombe and Wise topping the bill. It has continued to host top acts and West End shows, most recently the spectacular Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and West End hit The Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe.

Culturally, the theatre plays a significant role. To have a large-scale touring house on people’s doorsteps is not something that every town can boast about and we pride ourselves in delivering premium shows in Torquay. Equally, we are indebted to our local audiences who are so passionate about entertainment and the experience of live theatre that they continue to motivate us to find the biggest and best shows such as our new Pantomime producer. Pantomime is often the first exposure we have as a child and if we get it right, it puts down a foundation stone of positive cultural engagement, enriching lives and sharing experience.

How has the theatre evolved in recent years?

Our programme is always evolving as the industry changes. Summer seasons are fewer and far between, and almost always produced in-house now, whereas we have seen the rise of the spoken word event and live podcasts becoming increasingly popular.

We’ve also introduced our popular Theatre Tours to give our community a chance to see behind the scenes. Our School Tours allow us to demonstrate the many and varied career opportunities in theatre so that we might nurture the next generation of theatre professionals right here in the Bay.

Recently we undertook a huge refurbishment project to replace the original seating in our auditorium. Over 1500 seats were replaced, and we made the change from red to blue in keeping with our stunning location. There are always projects to be done, and new shows to take a chance on, but we work to keep pushing the theatre forward so that it remains the home of premium live entertainment in Torquay.

What impact does the theatre have on the local economy and tourism in Torbay?

The theatre plays a vital role in our nighttime and tourist economy and has a real impact. One of our favourite things is speaking to local business owners who tell us how busy they’ve been because we had a sold-out show that week. We know that for every pound spent on a theatre ticket, it delivers £1.40 back into the local economy. Local hotels, B&B’s, and private citizens house performers and touring crew, money is spent locally in businesses, and staff are employed, trained and developed.

Our ambition is to deliver more for our local economy by extending and improving our backstage facilities at the theatre. By doing this we would have the ability to take larger shows that would draw even greater audiences and put theatre in Torquay firmly on the map.

How does supporting the Business Awards align with the theatre’s values and goals?

We are so proud to sponsor the Rising Star award. Within ATG Entertainment, we have a leadership development programme of the same name, and it remains one of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibilities and great passions to nurture talent within the theatre industry.

It’s particularly important that we celebrate those rising stars in the Bay, who will hopefully continue to build their careers here in whichever industry they are in and celebrate their achievements in the local area.

Are there any upcoming productions or initiatives that you’re particularly excited about?

This year will be the third year with our new Pantomime Producer and we hope all our audiences agree that our pantomimes go from strength to strength. Jordan Productions pride themselves on delivering quality productions, and the audience feedback from last year was testament to this with so many audiences saying it’s the best pantomime they have seen. We can’t wait to see what Sleeping Beauty holds for us this year.

Whilst it might be a little way away yet, we are also hugely excited to welcome Fawlty Towers home to Torquay when the smash-hit West End production hits our stage.

What are your hopes for the theatre’s ongoing relationship with the local business community?

We have a wonderful relationship with many of the local businesses and hope to see this continue and grow over the next few years. We’d love the theatre to be seen as a hub where people can meet, hold meetings, or socialise with colleagues before a show. We also love to support other businesses and had a lot of fun when we collaborated with Paignton Zoo for Tiger Who Came To Tea.

We are also keen to do more to support our local community, including opening the theatre up for schools use and community groups. To do this we need to collaborate with other local businesses to ensure that these initiatives are supported financially and are able to build a legacy for years to come.

How do you see the Princess Theatre continuing to grow and evolve over the next few years?

We have some fantastic shows in discussion for the next few years and aim to continue developing our programme to bring local audiences the very best in live entertainment. This remains at the very heart of our business and is always our primary focus.

This year we have introduced a marketing apprentice role to our team, in conjunction with South Devon College, and we'd love to expand opportunities to support new talent in our local area over the next few years.

Our Pantomime continues to go from strength to strength, and alongside the fantastic Bay of Lights, we believe we have something really special to offer audiences who are looking to Torquay for their Christmas memories.

How to enter

Interest in the Torbay Weekly Naturally Inspiring Business Awards 2025 is already gaining momentum — and we want to make it as easy as possible for businesses to enter or to be nominated.

Entries are now open  for this year’s awards, with a date of Wednesday, June 11 already set for the glittering finals night at the Riviera International Centre in Torquay.

The awards have grown in size and stature since being launched three years ago. Now we are keen for even more businesses and their people to be saluted and recognised.

As before, you can enter a category as a business yourself.  But now you can also nominate a business —  and we will do the work for them. You nominate them  and a member of the Torbay Weekly  team will make contact with them to help with the application process. Just go online to  torbaybusinessawards.co.uk to enter or nominate.

We also have two more categories for you to consider. South Devon building supplies firm Inter-Line are on board again with their Apprentice of the Year category and we are also delighted to welcome  Torquay United FC to the awards. They will be sponsoring a new Sport and Health and Wellbeing category.

To enter, go online to the website  torbaybusinessawards.co.uk where you will find out how to enter or how to nominate businesses for the awards, the categories and their criteria. Entries will close at midnight on Friday, April 25. A judging panel will sit to choose the shortlisted finalists of each category. 

The finalists will be announced online and in paper on Thursday, May 15. They will go forward to the finals night.

This year’s sponsors

Torbay Council (headline sponsors and Overall Winner); Wollens (Best New Business); Newton Abbot Racecourse (Best Marketing Initiative); Stagecoach (Greener Futures award); English Riviera Bid Company (Tourism Company of Year); Princess Theatre (Rising Star Award); South Devon College (Inspiring Employer of Year); Police and Crime Commissioner  Alison Hernandez (Commissioner's Business Community Champion);  Torbay Business Forum (Small Business of Year); Majestic Holidays (The James Wright Award for Inspirational Leadership, or ‘Jimmy Award’); Sally Allen (Innovation); Inter-Line (Apprentice of the Year); Torquay United FC (Sport and Health and Wellbeing Business of the Year).

The Torbay Weekly Lifetime Achievement awards for contribution to business and the community will be announced on the finals night. The Overall Business of the Year will be chosen from across the category winners on the finals night and is not a category for entries.