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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There’s art out there, just waiting for you, ready to inspire your pupils and instigate cross-curricular learning. Graham Hooper discoveres a treasure trove of resources – both old and new – and hopes you will take up this fabulous opportunity.
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Susan Elkin visits a new performing arts school in Buckinghamshire enjoying considerable success with its first cohort of graduates.
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When are we going to start developing children as readers rather then mechanically teaching them to read and seeing that as an end in itself? Susan Elkin poses the question.
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Susan Elkin delves into the world of stand-up comedy to discover an MA course in Canterbury to help you refine your skills Stand-up comedy doesn’t, at first glance, seem the sort of thing you could train for in a university. Surely, if you have the innate talent you’ll just get up and do it? Then […]
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From playing village halls to touring Los Angeles, Kneehigh has come a long way since it began as a schools’ theatre company in the early 80s, yet its Cornish origins run deep and continue to influence its productions. Mark Glover finds out more about this extraordinary touring company. Thirty-seven years ago, a primary school teacher […]
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Susan Elkin meets up with two of the leading actors in the latest revival of The Woman in White… and a dog. Iam sitting in the bar at Charing Cross Theatre in the early afternoon. With me are two engaging men and a delightful dog named Peety. Tea is laid on for me along with […]
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Bucking the trend… or perhaps at the forefront of a new one, Fourth Monkey are now offering an intensive two-year actor training course. When formed back in 2010, Fourth Monkey were looking to challenge what was perceived to be at the time and still in many circles today the tried, tested and only means of […]
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Celebrating its 70th anniversary, Susan Elkin looks at the National Youth Orchestra, which continues to excel and expand. Ruth Railton, later Dame Ruth, was a pioneer. When she founded the National Youth Orchestra 70 years ago in 1948 she was doing more than building an orchestra. She was launching a world movement and, as she […]
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Our regular exhibition correspondent, Graham Hooper, marks your card for the wonderful array of exhibitions across the country this coming year. Every year seems to bring ever-bigger exhibitions. Each venue competing for higher profiling and each time it feels as though tickets get more expensive. I used to walk in off the street, no need […]
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Susan Elkin champions the case for banning food and drink in theatres If you want to picnic then go to a park. In a theatre “The play’s the thing” in every sense. Eating and drinking are for elsewhere. Traditionally gentlemen bought rustly chocolates to impress the ladies they wanted to impress. Theatres sold said expensive […]