Theatre Royal Plymouth’s record-breaking Festive Appeal

After a busy and magical festive season at Theatre Royal Plymouth (TRP), the charity has announced that its Festive Appeal 2025, has raised a record-breaking £42,689.94. This is an increase of more than 78% from last year’s total of £23,900. It also raised a further £12,240 from the Big Give Christmas Challenge and £1,365 from a pantomime-inspired Crowdfunder.

The extensive annual fundraising campaign was launched on 01 November alongside such shows as The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and Fawlty Towers, continuing throughout Dick Whittington, and shows on its smaller stages Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas and The Star Who Danced.

All proceeds raised will support young people from the local community in the year to come, with money from the Big Give specifically, going towards specific projects including launching TRP’s brand new community initiative, Young Company – Our Space. The new youth theatre group, which is also generously supported by the Maristow Charity, will be an extension of TRP’s current Our Space and Young Company programmes that support children facing extreme challenges and disadvantage. The programme will provide weekly term-time sessions for 15 participants, increasing to 40 children during school holidays, and allow them to explore creativity, develop new skills, build relationships and express themselves through drama.

The wider pot will support projects including; Young Company Create, which hosts weekly theatre sessions for children and young people with disabilities, allowing them to build confidence within a close and safe community, and Playhouse; a national scheme that connects young people with scriptwriters and theatre makers and gives them the chance to perform on their local theatre’s stages. Last year, as part of Playhouse, seven primary schools from Devon and Cornwall took over TRP’s Drum stage for an unforgettable week of performances, supported by the Festive Appeal alongside sponsorship from Princess Yachts.

Director of Partnerships & Philanthropy at TRP, Lucy Howe, said: “We are incredibly grateful to our audiences and members who have so generously supported this year’s appeal. I think the huge uplift we’ve seen this year is testament to the spirit of the people of Plymouth and the South West who are committed to making meaningful change for our shared community. Thank you to everyone who supported us.”

Generous theatre goers donated via bucket collections and contactless payments at the theatre, made voluntary donations online, through the box office and added donations when purchasing tickets – all contributing to the life-changing total achieved.