this month's
Ink Pellet contains
Back to the future
Don’t ignore apprenticeships as a viable alternative route to a creative career. Susan Elkin looks at several providers and chats to recent participants. You’re 18 or so and you desperately want to work in theatre – not as an actor, but as a backstage creative. So should you go to drama school or university for […]
2020 Visions to Savour
Guiding you through the upcoming year of exhibition highlights, Graham Hooper suggests making time for these exciting shows. This is the time to look back on what a good year 2019 was for art, and the best time for planning ahead to 2020; whether you intend to take a class of students on a study […]
Stage Schools – tell parents to tread carefully
Susan Elkin is encouraged by the breadth of stage schools, but suggests eyes need to be wide open. Stage schools are big business. They are also a bit of a minefield. How do you balance ensuring that children get performing arts opportunities against the decline of those same opportunities in mainstream schools and everyone’s need […]
Holes on stage
Adam Penford, Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse, has a passion for storytelling. As he prepares to bring a much-loved story about friendship and doing the right thing to the stage, he shows our imaginations ensure there are no barriers to bringing great tales to life. For the 1.5 million-plus people who have bought the book […]
Mary Poppins – Prince Edward Theatre
It’s techni-colourful and so tuneful that it really doesn’t matter much if the magic’s a bit thin and it sometimes feels a bit like a variety show strong on spectacular set pieces, but light on narrative focus. So rather than carping, swallow that spoonful of sugar with Mary (Zizi Strallen) rather than treacle and brimstone […]
SO YOU WANT TO ACT ON SCREEN
By Michael BrayPublished by Nick Hern Books Yet another good title in NHB’s So you want to … series, this book will help fill in gaps for students who think their training is selling them short. It would also be a good basic introduction for any student or actor just embarking on screen actor training. […]
Piers Torday
Piers Torday, 45, is the adaptor of A Christmas Carol and The Box of Delights for stage as well as the author of eight children’s novels. Susan Elkin chats to him.
THE BIG INTERVIEW: Composed Comfort
Paul Fincham is a composer whose carol Ring The Bells will be sung in concerts all over the country this Christmas and whose opera The Happy Princess got good reviews last summer. Susan Elkin meets him.
A Rye Gem
Susan Elkin met with Theatre Peckham AD Suzann Mclean, discovering this hub has much to offer Founded 33 years ago, Theatre Peckham is an unsung jewel tucked away in the back streets of Southwark about ten minutes walk from Peckham Rye station and close to the centre of Camberwell. Mountview Academy, one of the country’s […]
Free at last!
Fourth Monkey Actor Training Company announces accredited BA (Hons) Acting course and the introduction of audition fee wavers for all. Fourth Monkey Actor Training Company, founded in 2010 enters its tenth year in 2020, and to mark this milestone, the highly acclaimed School is validating its Two-Year actor training programme in partnership with TEF Gold […]
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 Lesley.finlay@inkwellpress.co.uk We hope the section inspires you to share new fiction with your pupils or to revisit old favourites yourself
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Susan Elkin visited TheatreCraft 2018, offering great advice to students looking for careers in the creative industries.
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Director, actor and teacher Roman Stefanski specialises in work for children and has been associated with Polka Theatre since 1980. Susan Elkin caught up with him for a chat.
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Susan Elkin visited a school in north London to see the National Theatre’s abridged version of The Curious Incident, touring schools nationwide, aiming to bring high quality theatre into schools to enrich teaching and learning. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is one of the National Theatre’s most successful shows of recent […]
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After changing their approach to school engagement six years ago, Oldham’s Coliseum Theatre’s secondary education partnership scheme is thriving, benefitting its wonderfully diverse community. Mark Glover headed to the town to find out more. As I wait to meet Carly Barclay, Head of Learning at the Coliseum Theatre, suddenly, there’s a huge clap of thunder, […]
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Mountview has moved to Peckham. Forget the notion of north and south London being in different countries. Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, whose name derives from its old London phone prefix, has cheerfully crossed the divide and is now a proud Southwark resident in a sparkling, spacious new home. Susan Elkin went to explore. Founded […]
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Long famous as an art college, Wimbledon College of Arts – part of University Arts London – is diversifying. From next year if will offer two new courses: BA (Hons) Acting & Performance and BA (Hons) Contemporary Theatre and Performance and the current college site is being upgraded and developed site to accommodate this work. Susan Elkin paid a visit.
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Susan Elkin puts the case for arts teachers to encourage students to embrace healthy eating and lifestyle. Hardly a day goes by without a hand-wringing news item about worsening obesity and the trouble it is likely to cause if it isn’t already doing so: not least unaffordable NHS costs. In the last month alone, we’ve […]
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Graham Hooper took time out during half-term, watching The Clock at the Tate Modern. I’m queuing to watch a film. Nothing unusual there, except this film is 24 hours long. Yes, that’s right, a whole day and night of big screen action. I say action, it’s mainly people looking at their watch, or a clock. […]
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Writer and director Debbie Isitt tells us about bringing the much-loved festive movie to the stage. For anyone who hasn’t seen the hit Christmas film, what is Nativity! The Musical about? It’s a classic story about a group of underdog kids in a challenging primary school trying to put on the best nativity play they […]
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Stephanie Rutherford, actor musician currently touring in The Sign of Four with Blackeyed Theatre, chats to Susan Elkin