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PRIZEWINNING PRODUCTIONS

 

We are delighted to announce that Holt Players have won the 2023 National Operatic and Dramatic Association’s District 14 Award for our two productions last year.  ‘Trap for a Lonely Man’, a taut edge-of-the-seat thriller directed by Simon Welch, and the poignant ‘Entertaining Angels’ story of a clergy widow and her grief, directed by our Chair Kate Palmer, were two very different plays, but each performed on our small Village Hall stage with great success. It was these space limitations, and the enthusiastic teamwork both onstage and behind it, that were recognised by Dee Way, the NODA representative for our District which covers Bath and North Wiltshire. Summing up her reasons for making this Award, she said:

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“This village company, performing in a small village hall has staged two outstanding plays in 2023. The range of style and intricacy of their productions makes for great theatre, as characters within characters have demonstrated. The staging of the productions has greatly improved in the past years, and it is amazing what lighting effects they get from very few lamps! However it is the cohesion of the company and the various departments working together that creates believable sets for believable and intriguing dramas and enables the actors to show the depth and variety of characters that is needed. Congratulations!”

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Praise indeed for everyone involved - from the actors, directors, producers and stage managers, to set design and build, light and sound, props, furniture, costumes and make-up, not forgetting publicity and programme design, front of house teams and of course the bar staff!   And for the Players ourselves.

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Kate Palmer comments;  ‘In my role as Chair of Holt Players I am thrilled, and very proud, that we have received the District Award from NODA. It certainly makes all our hard work worthwhile. As the director of one of the 2023 productions, I know how essential it is that every aspect of putting on a play is recognised. We might be village-based but we have a wealth of talent to call upon, and are so grateful to see all elements of our two latest productions being recognised in this way.  Thank you, NODA. '