Thelma Holt wins Sam Wanamaker Award

Producer Thelma Holt has been awarded the 2018 Sam Wanamaker Award. In a ceremony on the weekend, Shakespeare's Globe chief executive Neil Constable and director of education Patrick Spottiswoode presented Holt with the award.

The award was founded in 1994 by Shakespeare's Globe to celebrate work which has increased the understanding and enjoyment of Shakespeare. The work needs to also have a similar quality to Sam Wanamaker's pioneering mission, which was evident in his work reconstructing the Globe Theatre.

Holt was once an actress and has been involved with Shakespeare's Globe from the earliest days in the project. She said of receiving the award: "The news that I was to receive the Sam Wanamaker Award made the sun come out in my world, even though it appeared to be raining heavily elsewhere. I and anyone else who was involved so many years ago remain proud of the work we did when a madman called Sam Wanamaker had a brilliant idea. "

Previous recipients of the award include Dr Dex Gibson, Janet Arnold, Stanley Wells, John Barton and Mark Rylance.

Holt was director of the Roundhouse in 1978 and joined Peter Hall at the National Theatre, receiving an Olivier Award for her international work. Some of her productions include The Merchant of Venice starring Dustin Hoffman, Hamlet with Alan Rickman and Much Ado About Nothing starring Janet McTeer and Mark Rylance.

She has also produced extensively for the RSC and is associate producer on the company's Imperium.