this month's
Ink Pellet contains
HARMONY IN DIVERSITY
International soprano and Artistic Director of Pegasus Opera Company, Alison Buchanan, speaks to Nilgün Yusuf. Fans of Bridgerton may have seen Alison Buchanan sing in the spinoff series, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (2023) easily located on YouTube if you missed it. “That was a high point” the singer reflects. “I loved the show and the whole process. They treated me like artist.” Bejewelled […]
TAYLA KENYON
Tayla Kenyon is a producer, playwright, actor, teacher and workshop facilitator whose award-winning debut play FLUFF is a play text at the National Theatre. Her new play, Tell Me Where it Hurts, explores Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder andis currently on tour. “There weren’t masses of theatres in Hemel Hempstead where I was brought up, although we […]
Let’s fill this country with artists
Mountview is multiplying and now has seven CertHEs across the country. By Nilgün Yusuf. It’s been a long-held view that to make a career in the performing arts, you must move to London. But with sky high rents and the prohibitive cost of capital living, this is not an option for many young people. Mountview, […]
Poetry for Life
Having curated the Poetry Arena at Latitude for ten years from 2006, poet Luke Wright revisited the festival this summer to present excerpts from his latest book, Later Life Letter, and IP caught up with him later for a chat. Inspired by the likes of Blur’s Country House and the tapes of Monty Python, Luke […]
Into Film Supporting Literacy
This year’s Into Film Festival will take place between 6-27 November 2026, and will once again help educators bring learning to life for 5-19-year-olds across the UK by inspiring young people to watch, understand and make films in new and creative ways. Welcoming almost half a million pupils and their educators each year, education charity, […]
Beyond Laughter
Actor, comedian, broadcaster Rufus Hound, 47, has starred in the West End and presented primetime TV. Susan Elkin spoke to him. When I catch up with Rufus Hound he is eating a bowl of noodles between the matinee and the evening show where he is appearing as William in Jack and Sarah at the Mill […]
Matilda the Musical – Writing challenge
“Change My Story” is the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) flagship education programme accompanying the UK and Ireland tour of Matilda the Musical. Inspired by the musical’s themes of empowerment and literacy, the initiative aims to reach thousands of young people in cities hosting the touring production Roald Dahl’s delightful, subversive novel Matilda champions reading and […]
OHMI Trust
The OHMI Trust’s objective is to enable children and adults with physical impairments to play the instruments they want to play, when they want to play them and where they want to play them (whether at school, in the home or in a professional ensemble). OHMI Trust Music-Makers is a Birmingham-based charity, founded in 2011. Its primary […]
Learn with Mischief
Learn With Mischief is a new, free to use education resource designed for secondary students, and aims to inspire the next generation of theatre-makers and comedians, from the team behind The Play That Goes Wrong. Classrooms usually work better if there’s laughter. We teachers are inclined to get so earnestly involved in “delivering” the curriculum […]
Italia Conti
Italia Conti was an actor and teacher. In 1911 she founded the training school which bears her name. It has trained Naomi Campbell, Pixie Lott. Russell Brand, Noel Coward, Peter Duncan, Jack Hawkins, Lesley Manville and Layton Williams among thousands of others across twelve decades. One of the fifteen members of the Federation of Drama […]
News
Meet John Hopley, the editor of Ink Pellet. He is a bit of a traditionalist (Jane Austen, the Brontes, Shakespeare, Dickens…) who is developing a love of modern teen fiction.
These are just some of our occasional musings on life in the arts world in Stage Whispers, the every day tale of everyday magazine folk…
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The wonderful Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is still holding court at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Book now to see the new cast which includes Barry James (Grandpa Joe), Josefina Gabrielle (Mrs Teavee), Richard Dempsey and Kirsty Malpass as Mr and Mrs Bucket, and Alex Jennings (Willy Wonka). The new cast’s first performance is on […]
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Towering sculptures rise from trees, others seem to leap out of hidden corners: such is the experience for visitors to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Ink Pellet explores this unique sanctuary for wildlife – not to mention a vast, living muse for artists and students...
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Elizabeth Gaskell’s work was dismissed in the early 20th century as too provincial. Thankfully all that has changed. Now the life and works of the novelist are to be preserved at her former home, thanks to a painstaking restoration...
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January is a month of promise, a time of to do lists, and planning so here goes...
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The Walker Art Gallery hosts a major exhibition of David Hockney’s early work which is set to get the crowds flocking to Liverpool. The sculptor is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century and this show brings together a unique selection of paintings and prints which chart his early development. Called David […]
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A Reading Agency programme, run in conjunction with local libraries, is having a real impact in helping young people develop vital skills for adulthood through reading and creative writing. Called Reading Activists it has corralled an army of volunteers to create a variety of public events. LESLEY FINLAY shares her own experience of this brilliant scheme...
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The national charity Filmclub goes from strength to strength and this autumn holds its first National Youth Film Festival as MOIRA MCVEAN explains....
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An amazing effort by Jane Austen fans ensures a family treasure remains in Britain - and doesn't travel to the home of US singer Kelly Clarkson! LESLEY FINLAY found out more...
