Princess Theatre

The Princess Theatre in Launceston is a beautiful old proscenium arch theatre built in 1911 by a vaudeville entrepreneur, Marino Lucas. The local newspaper at the time was rapturous in its praise. "The dome and ceiling are a dream of loveliness". The auditorium still retains the original dome and pressed tin ceiling. The façade and foyers were renovated in 1939 in the art deco style giving an interesting mix of architectural styles.

On opening night in August 1911 the backstage area was still to be completed so silent films were shown. This proved to be so lucrative that the Theatre operated as a cinema until 1970.

In that year the Launceston City Council bought the Princess for the bargain price of $71,000. The Theatre opened as a live venue to great fanfare on November 16 1970 with a gala performance by the Australian Ballet. The theatre seats 1065.

A more recent addition to performing arts spaces in Launceston was the Earl Arts Centre which opened in 1993. Located at the back of the Princess the Earl is a black box theatre with the most common seating configuration accommodating 191. It has a performance area of approximately 9.6m square with no fly lines.