this month's
Ink Pellet contains
THE BIG INTERVIEW: Unlocking Potential
Darren Raymond, artistic director of Intermission Theatre in Knightsbridge confounds every stereotype. Any preconceived idea of what a theatre director “should” be evaporates as soon as you meet him. Susan Elkin did. For a start Darren, 37, is employed by the Church of England and Intermission Theatre is based at part-converted St Saviour’s Church which […]
Outreach Collaboration
DNA – a collaboration between Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Susan Elkin discovers more. It is very unusual for a regional theatre to collaborate with a drama school as Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch is doing with Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. The joint project is a production of […]
Mind the gap
An initiative encouraging young people into non-performance roles by bridging the gap between schools and theatres was launched in the summer. Mark Glover speaks to Cassie Chadderton, Head of UK Theatre, a membership body spearheading the campaign, to find out if the project can really address this long-standing issue. In 2017, the theatre and performing […]
Free cinema for all
“The Into Film Festival presented wonderful opportunities for our students, most of whom rarely visit the cinema. It was more than just a cinema visit, it was an entire package. I would recommend the Festival to all teachers.” Leila Hinks, St Andrews Primary School Free cinema trips and resources to engage young minds through the […]
Voice Training
Susan Elkin chats to James Grimsey, vocal coach and Creative Director at Arts1 School of Performance, about training a voice and dispelling a few myths. The human voice is a very subtle and complex thing. And James Grimsey is utterly fascinated by it. “The more you learn about the voice and how it works the […]
The Sign of Four
Susan Elkin interviews script writer Nick Lane about his adaptation of The Sign of Four for Blackeyed Theatre’s latest nationwide tour. “There are two initial challenges when you adapt a well known Victorian novel for the stage” says Nick Lane, script writer for Blackeyed Theatre’s The Sign of Four which tours nationwide from this autumn. […]
The Yorkshire Way
Mark Glover speaks to Rebecca Winwood, Special Projects Producer at Huddersfield’s Lawrence Batley Theatre and discovers a venue that cares deeply for its community, working closely with other initiatives to bring art to its surrounding areas. I’ve been living in the North of England for six months now having swapped the sweeping fields of the […]
Theatre Rights Worldwide
Susan Elkin went to the UK offices of Theatre Rights Worldwide five floors above Regent Street to talk to TRW vice president, Drew Baker, about licensing and performing musicals. If you have written a musical – perhaps for your own students – then maybe you’d like it to have an afterlife in other schools. If […]
Drama Matters: Does It?
Drama teacher and member of the National Drama executive committee Zeena Rasheed puts forward a strong case for Drama in schools and urges you to act in its defence. So why should we keep championing Drama, as an entitlement, more joyfully, and more powerfully than ever? Why should more arts lovers, liberals, politicians, educationalists, academics, […]
EXHIBITION: Friendship
Two separate exhibitions this autumn have similar themes. Graham Hooper visited both and gives us his insight into the friendship and relationships, as presented through art. One academic year ends, another begins. Older colleagues retire and new staff fill their roles. Students leave school for college and leave college for work or another course. This […]
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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Poetry can sometimes struggle to shake off its inaccessible label, particularly in the classroom. Mark Glover asks if it’s time to start dovetailing modern with the traditional?
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As Chris Hocking takes over at the head of ArtsEd, Susan Elkin chats to him about his background and plans for this vibrant school
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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 […]
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Susan Elkin participated in a panel discussion on the current state of education, focussing on the detriment to learning caused by the paucity of arts subjects in the curriculum. 1968 was the year I started teaching. My e-book memoir Please Miss We’re Boys, details it amusingly – I hope. By some mysterious coincidental synergy, I was […]
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Sometimes great ideas spring from the unlikeliest of places. In 1974, an actual chicken shed on the very limits of North London was the venue for one of the first inclusive theatre companies in the UK. Mark Glover uncovers the routes of the Chickenshed. Susan Jamson, Chickenshed’s Press and PR Manager, has been with the […]
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The NT Connections Festival celebrated its 21st Anniversary with a record number of participating groups. Susan Elkin looks at this year’s final performers. Our play is preferred” shouts Bottom gleefully to Peter Quince and the other rude mechanicals in A Midsummer Night’s Dream when he hears that that they’ve been picked to perform at the Theseus’s three […]
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In the last issue of Ink Pellet, Mark Glover, reviewed Lucy Kerbel’s book All Change Please, a rally cry to achieving greater equality in the theatre. The book focused, in part on the influence of young people, and the impact they can make. Here, he delves into the work of the National Youth Theatre, to […]
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GRAHAM HOOPER takes in the Cornelia Parker exhibition, combining visual and verbal allusions that trigger cultural metaphors and personal associations.
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SUSAN ELKIN visited Rose Bruford College to view first-hand the excellent classes offered to young people. Rose Bruford College is an unusual drama school. Operating without a city centre presence, it is tucked away in a quietly rural and very beautiful corner of Sidcup in the grounds of the old house (complete with lake!) which […]
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With, hopefully, warmer evenings set to continue though the coming months, Susan Elkin guides us through some of the open air theatre highlights available this summer. Open air theatre is one of those gloriously British triumphs of hopes over experience. At its best a night at Regents Park or in the grounds of a stately […]