Library

Ink Pellet’s book review section covers an eclectic selection of new fiction, teachers’ guides, audio books and classics.

Many of our reviews are written by teachers, so we have an expert eye on how texts will work in the classroom. We hope to create a useful archive of reviews so that you can use this as a reference. If you would like to join our panel of reviewers, please join in or email the editor john@inkpellet.co.uk. We hope the section inspires you to share new fiction with your pupils or to revisit old favourites yourself

  1. 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 […]

  2. 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 […]

  3. 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 […]

  4. 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 […]

  5. 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 […]

  6. Coffee Break: Louisa Reid

    Coffee Break: Louisa Reid  

    Louisa Reid, a secondary English teacher, is the author of the YA verse novels Gloves Off, nominated for the Carnegie Medal, and Wrecked, which was selected for both the Read for Empathy collection and National Poetry Day. Louisa Reid’s latest YA verse novel Activist is available now published by Guppy Books. Susan Elkin spoke to her. Your […]

  7. Poetry Powerhouse

    Poetry Powerhouse  

    Allie Esiri has been described as a “poetry powerhouse”. Susan Elkin met her to talk about her work. “People like poetry” says Allie Esiri whose anthologies have cornered 20% of the entire UK poetry market. “They hear a poem, say, at a wedding or funeral, and are moved so they want more. And I think […]

  8. Opening Doors

    Opening Doors  

    Scott Graham, Artistic Director of the Ignition programme from Frantic Assembly, gives an insight as to how they are attracting and engaging new participants. Some 15 years ago we ran a workshop for professional performers where we hired a nightclub for two days to make work inspired by the site. We invited people to apply […]

  9. Arrows and Traps

    Arrows and Traps  

    Ross McGregor, 38, is the founder of Arrows and Traps theatre company. His recent plays have been about Holst, Payne and Persephone. Susan Elkin met him. How did you get into drama? I’ve stammered since I was 4. When I was about 14 and a pupil at an all-boys’ boarding school in Hertfordshire, which wasn’t […]

  10. Inspiring Future Theatre

    Inspiring Future Theatre  

    Inspiring the Future of Theatre is a joint initiative by Society of London Theatre (SOLT), UK Theatre and charity Education & Employers, launched to nurture new generations of theatre-makers and audiences from school age, connecting schools with their local theatres. What is Inspiring the Future of Theatre? Theatre and the performing arts are part of […]