Thelma Holt scoops Special Award for Individual Achievement at TMA Theatre awards

Published Monday 16 October 2006 at 12:55 by Alistair Smith

Producer Thelma Holt was presented with the Special Award for Individual Achievement at this year’s Theatrical Management Association Theatre Awards, joining English Youth Ballet, which was recognised with The Stage Award for Special Achievement in Regional Theatre.

Royal Shakespeare Company associate director Gregory Doran, presenting the special award to Holt, commented: “She has done nine Hamlets, five of them in foreign languages - including Georgian, Romanian and Swedish. She is an extraordinary woman. She is a producer who knows how to deal with actors… She is one of the only producers I know who appears backstage on a regular basis - often with fruit.”

English Youth Ballet was recognised for its work giving young dancers outside of London the chance to perform within a professional setting in regional theatres across England, Scotland and Wales. Accepting the award, EYB director Janet Lewis said: “EYB gives children an enormous performing opportunity that they otherwise wouldn’t have. Theatres are delighted, managers are delighted, parents are delighted, teachers are delighted and the children have confidence and renewed vigour and better technique and enjoyment of dance.”

Elsewhere, Greg Hicks was successful in the Best Performance in a Play category for his turn as Tamburlaine at the Bristol Old Vic, while Junix Inocian picked up the award for Best Performance in a Musical for his appearance in Pacific Overtures at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester.

Sheffield Theatres also enjoyed a good year, with Tom Brooke being recognised with Best Supporting Performance in a Play for The Long and the Short and the Tall at the Lyceum, while Robert Innes Hopkins was awarded Best Design for Promises, Promises at the Crucible.

The controversial production Jerry Springer - the Opera defied its critics, to pick up the award for best touring production, while Rubinstein Kiss by James Phillips was given the accolade of Best New Play.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Best Performance in a Play: Greg Hicks for Tamburlaine at the Bristol Old Vic.

Best Supporting Performance in a Play: Tom Brooke for The Long and the Short and the Tall at the Lyceum, Sheffield.

Best Performance in a Musical: Junix Inocian for Pacific Overtures at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester.

Best Supporting Performance in a Musical: Nicole Faraday for Bad Girls - The Musical at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Best Director: Nina Raine for Unprotected at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

The Walton & Parkinson Award for Best Touring Production: Jerry Springer - The Opera.

Best New Play: Rubinstein Kiss by James Phillips at Hampstead Theatre.

Best Musical Production: Road to Nowhere at the Lyric Hammersmith.

Best Design: Robert Innes Hopkins for Promises, Promises at the Crucible, Sheffield.

The Equity Award for Best Show for Children and Young People: National Theatre of Scotland and Improbable’s The Wolves in the Walls on tour.

Achievement in Opera: Welsh National Opera’s Mazeppa.

Achievement in Dance: Les Ballets Trocadero de Monto Carlo.

The Stage Award for Special Achievement in Regional Theatre: English Youth Ballet.

Special Award for Individual Achievement: Thelma Holt.