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 […]
Big Interview
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Ben Ofoedu chats with Susan Elkin about his life and career, from global singing star to scene-stealing genie and beyond He bounds beaming up the stairs to meet me in a Mexican café in Soho. He has chosen this establishment because they’ve given him a Gold Card in acknowledgement of his celebrity status. His rather […]
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Annemarie Lewis Thomas, composer, musical director and founder principal of Musical Theatre Academy chats to Susan Elkin
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SUSAN ELKIN is enchanted by the multi-faceted and prolific writer Adèle Geras, still writing – at her own pace – at the age of 72. Most interviewees elect to meet journalists on neutral territory such as a coffee shop, hotel or reserved space at a theatre or publisher’s. It is typical of the warmth and […]
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Playwright Evan Placey chats to Susan Elkin about his Canadian roots, challenging writing and his concerns for the future of drama in schools Within a couple of minutes of our meeting, playwright Evan Placey and I are chatting comfortably about his partner Daniel and life in south London with the little boy (now 20 months) […]
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David Troughton, currently playing the eponymous Mr Tom, took time out during rehearsals to chat with SUSAN ELKIN about his extensive career – from Exeter to Ambridge via Stratford. I catch David Troughton, 65, in a break between rehearsals for Goodnight Mr Tom. We’re at Open Air Theatre in Regents Park just before the move down […]
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Slyvia Young OBE, the doyenne of theatre education for children, talks to SUSAN ELKIN about her life, future plans, and why her love for the theatre is as strong as ever.
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Hugh Maynard plays John in Miss Saigon at the Prince Edward Theatre. He has a long musical theatre track record, a new album out and a powerful personal back story. SUSAN ELKIN finds out more. Some actors present themselves as exuberant show offs presumably because they dare not stop performing. Hugh Maynard isn’t one of […]
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Steven Green is making waves with Fourth Monkey, the school with a difference he formed after treading the boards himself. LESLEY FINLAY caught up with him during a break in rehearsals...
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Lesley Finlay catches up with Michael Morpurgo and finds him in reflective mood...
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Matthew Bourne has lead a revolution into how we watch dance. LESLEY FINLAY spoke to him to find out what makes him tick...