The arts magazine for teachers

I spent this summer living my life vicariously through the exploits of my eldest son, as his career in the music industry starts to burgeon; going on tours of the UK and Europe, performing at several major festivals and preparing for an autumn tour to New Zealand and Australia. As with your cohorts, it’s great to see them grow and spread their wings, especially if they can follow their dreams, and I’ve certainly revelled in the ‘proud dad’ moments (even if I don’t understand all the lyrics!).

Following her dreams and a lifelong passion for music, Dr Hannah French is the subject for our Big Interview (p10) in the September 2023 issue, as she tells us about her journey and overcoming hurdles along the way – an inspiration to all.

There was also much pride in evidence when we visited a school’s end of year performance of King Midas, led by the team at Bright Torches Theatre Company, integrating performance with a creative learning environment and providing a fitting climax for year six pupils.

We also turn the spotlight on the work of the NT Connections festival, firmly established as a platform for youth theatre and schools’ drama, providing thousands of young people with the opportunity to perform in local theatres or take on backstage roles. As The Woman in Black embarks on an extensive UK tour, we caught up with author Dame Susan Hill, to find out all about how she came up with the spooky story and what it’s like seeing your work told on stage.

Our Coffee Break chat is with acclaimed musical theatre performer Rebecca Thornhill, charting her career from am-dram to Gypsy

Wishing you all the best for the new academic year, please pass Ink Pellet onto your colleagues and students or visit our website or click here to subscribe.

John

A Final Haunt

A Final Haunt  

After 33 extraordinary years, Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black will haunt the stage of the Fortune Theatre for the final time, as the production ends in the West End on Saturday 4th March 2023. PW Productions announce that after 33 extraordinary years in London’s West End, the theatrical sensation that is Susan Hill’s THE […]

Reaching for the Moon

Reaching for the Moon  

Susan Elkin paid a visit to Half Moon theatre in London’s East End to chat with CEO Chris Elwell about their extensive education outreach and innovative theatre programmes. Half Moon Theatre sits in the heart of Limehouse in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, spitting distance from the DLR and mainline station. Formerly a pretty […]

National Youth Theatre Rep Company

National Youth Theatre Rep Company  

The National Youth Theatre’s Rep Company is celebrating its first ten years and Susan Elkin paid a visit to learn more. Each year a group of fifteen or so talented NYT members, aged 18 to 25, are selected by audition to join this company. In just a few months they rehearse three shows, many of […]

Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships  

An important and often overlooked route into the industry, especially for many non-performing roles. Susan Elkin has some suggestions. Theatre is like an iceberg. For every role on stage there are probably at least half a dozen technicians you can’t see. And the industry has been telling us for decades that there are skills shortages […]

School Shows

School Shows  

Never underestimate the power of a school production – for every single person involved. When you meet former students, sometimes from decades back in my case, it’s usually taking part in Oliver! or A Midsummer Night’s Dream that they reminisce about with shining eyes. Most importantly it’s a terrific bonding exercise. We hear a lot […]

New Perspectives

New Perspectives  

With three separate Lucian Freud exhibitions currently on, Graham Hooper took time to visit and here is his review of these contrasting shows. LLucian Freud would have been 100 this year, and that’s a good excuse to look back over his life and work, but especially his work, as the two have a rather nasty […]

Grandad Anansi  – Half Moon Theatre

Grandad Anansi  – Half Moon Theatre  

Predicated partly on Black History Month, Elayne Ogbeta’s muliti-layered play presents Grandad (Marcus Hercules) and his primary school age granddaughter, Abi (Jazmine Wilkinson) in his garden. Like everything else in this show, the garden designed by Sorcha Corcoran, is beautiful with lots of colour, light and plants that Grandad knows by name and talks to. […]

Theatre Review – The King of Nothing – Little Angel Theatre

Theatre Review – The King of Nothing – Little Angel Theatre  

Ben Glasstone’s charming, witty account of The Emperor Who Has No Clothes works well for two main reasons. First it is one of the most perceptive stories ever written, dealing as it does with vanity, self delusion, conformity and truth. It’s both topical and timeless. Second, we have a cost of living crisis and the […]

Book Review – Activist 

Book Review – Activist   

by Louisa Reid Published by Guppy Books Cassandra, narrator of this powerful verse novel, is a reluctant sixth former in a prestigious mixed school, formerly all boys, where toxic culture simmers. Driven by her own experience, and by nature a feisty “shouter” she campaigns forcibly for acknowledgement that some of the boys at school treat […]

Book Review – A Poetry Pedagogy for Teachers: Reorienting Classroom Literacy Practice

Book Review – A Poetry Pedagogy for Teachers: Reorienting Classroom Literacy Practice  

by Maya Pindyck and Ruth Vinz, with Diana Liu and Ashlynn Wittchow The thrust of this detailed, well-researched, quite academic book about the poetry in classrooms is that we shouldn’t teach students to search for meaning so that “the poem becomes a specimen for examination under the microscope of interpretative practices”. Instead we should experience […]