Is Thelma the oldest Jewish woman on stage?
This week 97-year-old Thelma Ruby hits the boards again with her one woman show
Brigit Grant is the Jewish News Supplements Editor
At the age of 80, Sir Paul McCartney may be the oldest solo performer to headline at Glastonbury when he plays this weekend, but on Thursday, 97 year-old Thelma Ruby will be the oldest Jewish woman to do a one-woman show in London.
Born and raised in Leeds, the daughter of a Lithuanian dentist, Thelma is bringing her autobiographical show of songs, sketches and extracts from leading roles to Pizza Express Live at The Phesantry in Chelsea and there are only a few tickets left.
A child performer in Music Hall, billed as “Dainty Little Paula Ruby”, Thelma has had a major career on stage with roles including Golda which she played opposite Topol’s Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, Mistress Quickly to Orson Welles’s Falstaff in Shakespeare’s Henry IV and she joined Dame Judi Dench in the original stage production of Cabaret in 1968.
In a week when Kate Bush who is 64 in July has made history for being the youngest and oldest woman to have a self-written UK number one song, Thelma balks at her youth as she began her solo shows in 2018 when she was 93. Honoured at a Women of the Year lunch and awarded the Oldie of the Year alongside Dame Glenda Jackson and David Cameron’s mother, Thelma who lives in Wimbledon says this may be the last time she treads the boards, but that’s not definite.
Tickets available: www.pizzaexpresslive.com
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.