A visit to the theatre can be a magical experience – here we pick three Westcountry houses that are well worth a visit.

Theatre Royal - Plymouth

The Theatre Royal Plymouth is the largest and best attended regional producing theatre in the UK and the leading promoter of theatre in the South West, achieving annual audiences of over 360,000. There are two distinctive performance spaces, the Theatre Royal and the Drum Theatre as well as TR2 - an £8 million theatre production and education centre.

The Theatre Royal seats 1315, but has a unique ability to compress the auditorium, creating a more intimate performance space of 787. The range of work presented and produced is incredibly extensive and includes major touring drama and musical productions as well as welcoming leading opera and dance companies to the South West (including Birmingham Royal Ballet, Rambert Dance Company, Glyndebourne On Tour and Welsh National Opera).

For a detailed list of productions, please see their website.

Princess Theatre - Torquay

The Princess Theatre first opened it’s doors on Wednesday 7th June 1961. Top of the bill on the opening night were the late, great Tommy Cooper and the legendary Morecambe and Wise.

The theatre was built by Torbay Council as the main feature of the redevelopment of the Princess Gardens area on Torquay seafront. The theatre replaced a marquee which was erected annually to house light entertainment.

Theatres in seaside resorts are traditionally known for their annual Summer Season consisting of light entertainment and family variety shows and Torquay is no exception. In the past the Princess Theatre has seen artistes such as Jim Davidson, Jethro and Jimmy Cricket making regular appearances.

However Summer 2002 saw a change from the traditional line-up to a 6 week run consisting of two West End musicals Grease and Chicago. Summer 2003 saw a similar occurrence, featuring the Blues Brothers, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Boogie Nights, with musicals proving to be a popular choice for the local people of Torbay as well as the holidaymakers.

2008 looks set to be another exciting year, with visits from Abbamania, Jimmy Carr and Derren Brown amongst others.

Minack Theatre – Porthcurno, Penzance

The Minack Theatre was planned, built and financed by one determined woman - Rowena Cade. She did think of offering her garden to stage "The Tempest", but there really was nowhere to seat an audience. Always resourceful she prospected alternatives, one of which was on the opposite side of the bay. Then, looking into the gully above the Minack Rock she said "I wonder if we could make a stage here?"

With the benefit of decades of hindsight and with her remarkable Theatre spread out below, the answer was clearly yes. But that first winter was harsh. It took six months for Rowena and two Cornish craftsmen to build a simple stage and some rough seating.

The first performance of "The Tempest" in the summer of 1932 was lit by batteries, car headlights and the feeble power brought down from Minack House.

As to the future, the Trustees have clear objectives :

• To preserve the magic of what Rowena Cade created while developing a fully equipped modern theatre.
• To attract large audiences and yet put on programmes that have real variety.
• To book new and sometimes inexperienced companies, while maintaining high standards of performance.
• To keep ticket prices low and yet generate the money needed to repair and improve the theatre.

2008 productions include Shakespeare classics such as 'As You Like It' and 'A Comedy of Errors' as well as favourites including 'Pinocchio' and 'Gulliver's Travels'.