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.
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
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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 […]
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“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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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Susan Elkin pleads the case for writers and publishers to help stretch the vocabularies and minds of young readers. I’m going to quote it in full: “[young readers] should be bombarded with words like gamma rays, steeped in words like pot plants stood in water, pelted with them like confetti, fed on them like Alphabetti […]
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Thirty years ago, Nick Hern launched Nick Hern Books, one of Britain’s leading publishers of plays and drama books. Susan Elkin spoke to him. How did you get interested in drama in the first place? I did three plays at my prep school because I was told to: I played Prince Hal in Henry […]
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This year’s Carnegie shortlist has been announced with schools and reading groups around the country shadowing the process and providing valuable feedback. Susan Elkin is our guide. The CILIP Carnegie Medal, awarded annually for a children’s book, is the prize that most authors writing for young people covet above all others. The judges are librarians from […]
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For over 20 years Mousetrap Theatre Projects has helped nearly 200,000 young people experience theatre in London through trips to West End shows as well as practical drama workshops. Mark Glover finds out how the charity continues to make venues in the capital more welcoming and the challenges that teachers face when trying to book […]