Annual Thálie theatre awards handed out

The Czech actors’ association handed out the Thálie annual theatre awards in Prague o Saturday. The award for best female performance went to the 81-year-old actress Květa Fialová for the role of Maude in Colin Higgins’ Harold and Maude, staged at the Slovácké Theatre in Uherské Hradiště; the Thálie award for best male performance was awarded to Jiří Štepnička for the part of Raymond in the play Blackbird by David Harrower, at Prague’s National Theatre. Operatic soprano Naděžda Kniplová, who was awarded for her life-time achievement, refused to accept the award, and said she should have been awarder earlier.