this month's
Ink Pellet contains
Vivid Direction
Matthew Parker is a theatre director. His recent Henry V in the Roman Amphitheatre for Maltings Theatre, St Albans wowed Susan Elkin, herself a Henry V veteran, so she met him to find out more. I fell in love with theatre when I was four years old – and it was for life”, Matthew tells me, […]
Difference through Diversity
A fierce, uncompromising visionary, revolutionising actor training, Fourth Monkey’s Director of Training, Charleen Qwaye explains to IP how they are evolving 2020 marks a big year for Fourth Monkey. Ten years since the London-based actor training company was founded, it also marks their BA (Hons) Acting degree receiving formal accreditation in partnership with Falmouth University. This […]
ALRA
Forty-three years since its foundation, ALRA (Academy of Live and Recorded Arts) continues to develop talented performers across many disciplines. Susan Elkin went to find out more. ALRA has come a long way since Miranda Hart and Jimmy Akinbola became its most famous alumnae. For a start, it’s the only drama school in the Federation […]
New Age of Enlightenment
An unusual collaboration between the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Acland Burghley School in London aroused the interest of Susan Elkin. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE) has a new home. It is now based at Acland Burghley comprehensive school (ABS) in Camden. Three offices will be adapted for the administration team, […]
Advice for Auditionees
Chris Hocking, Principal & Director of the School of Musical Theatre, and Julie Spencer, Director of the School of Acting, at ArtsEd offer advice for auditionees in these unusual circumstances. Due to the current situation around Covid-19, ArtsEd have taken all first-round auditions for BA (Hons) Musical Theatre and Acting courses online, meaning auditionees will […]
Best of Both
Being one of the smallest drama schools in the country certainly hasn’t held back this rural drama school, nor its esteemed alumni. Susan Elkin is our guide. When George Peck founded The Oxford School of Drama in 1986 he was breaking new ground. An actor/director used to working with students, he wanted to offer fresh, […]
Virtually There
Bereft of being able to visit galleries in person, Graham Hooper has put together a tour of wonderful online ‘visits’ for you to experience during lockdown.
Theatre Review: Des – ITV 3 part miniseries
Dennis Nilsen was a Scottish serial killer in North London who died in 2018. Known as “Des”, he murdered at least 15 young men between 1978 and 1983, although he was convicted of only six. His motivation was necrophilia. This is not a story for the faint-hearted. David Tennant captures the dour, Scots impassivity beautifully. […]
Book Review: Return to Roar
By Jenny McLachlanPublished by Egmont This is a sequel to McLachlan’s earlier Land of Roar and there’s a third title in the pipeline. I read it, though, as a standalone and that works because she sets up the situation very adeptly at the beginning. Think Peter Pan (we meet the Lost Girls) crossed with Narnia […]
Pause for thought… Value trad texts
Susan Elkin implores you to maintain a broad reading list for younger readers, including titles perhaps now overlooked.
Big Interview
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Matthew Parker is a theatre director. His recent Henry V in the Roman Amphitheatre for Maltings Theatre, St Albans wowed Susan Elkin, herself a Henry V veteran, so she met him to find out more. I fell in love with theatre when I was four years old – and it was for life”, Matthew tells me, […]
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Alexia Khadime is a talented actress of stage and screen, taking time to support others during the enforced closure of theatres. Susan Elkin caught up with her for a chat.
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Producer, social commentator, author and now performer, Susan Elkin met the West End Producer to chat about his alter ego and recent successful Edinburgh run.
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Having ‘retired’ from running their hugely successful company, Oily Cart, Susan Elkin caught up with Tim Webb and Dave Bennett to find out what the future now holds in store.
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Moira Buffini, 53, is an award-winning playwright and director whose innovative reworking of Macbeth is part of the current National Youth Theatre Rep Season. Susan Elkin met her to talk about her career so far. Moira Buffini meets me after work in Islington on a chilly, dark autumn evening. Always busy she has been working […]
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Steven Worbey and Kevin Farrell, both pianists, met at Royal College of Music. Worbey and Farrell, their unusual double act – four hands on one piano – combines virtuosic playing with family-friendly humour. Susan Elkin caught up with them in London on their way home to Edinburgh following a working week on a P&O Cruise […]
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Proving disability and deafness can be incorporated into mainstream theatre, Susan Elkin met up with Garry Robson during rehearsals for Our Country’s Good
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Susan Elkin spoke to playwright Jessica Swale, composer Joe Stilgoe and director Max Webster during the rehearsals for a brand-new adaptation of The Jungle Book which opened at Royal and Derngate, Northampton before Christmas and tours nationally this year. Everyone connected with this production mentions the 1967 Disney film, with its songs by George Bruns which have […]
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Crime fiction author Anne Cassidy, who writes for young adults, hit the headlines in 2004 with her controversial novel Looking for JJ – one of over fifty titles she has to her credit. Susan Elkin meets her.
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The Birmingham Stage Comapany, one of the world’s leading producers of theatre for children, is celebrating its 25th anniversary and Susan Elkin met up with its founder Neal Foster We meet in his theatreland London office, a stone’s throw from Piccadilly Circus and not much further from the Garrick Theatre where Gangsta Granny is to […]