this month's
Ink Pellet contains
A Final Haunt
After 33 extraordinary years, Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black will haunt the stage of the Fortune Theatre for the final time, as the production ends in the West End on Saturday 4th March 2023. PW Productions announce that after 33 extraordinary years in London’s West End, the theatrical sensation that is Susan Hill’s THE […]
Reaching for the Moon
Susan Elkin paid a visit to Half Moon theatre in London’s East End to chat with CEO Chris Elwell about their extensive education outreach and innovative theatre programmes. Half Moon Theatre sits in the heart of Limehouse in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, spitting distance from the DLR and mainline station. Formerly a pretty […]
National Youth Theatre Rep Company
The National Youth Theatre’s Rep Company is celebrating its first ten years and Susan Elkin paid a visit to learn more. Each year a group of fifteen or so talented NYT members, aged 18 to 25, are selected by audition to join this company. In just a few months they rehearse three shows, many of […]
Apprenticeships
An important and often overlooked route into the industry, especially for many non-performing roles. Susan Elkin has some suggestions. Theatre is like an iceberg. For every role on stage there are probably at least half a dozen technicians you can’t see. And the industry has been telling us for decades that there are skills shortages […]
School Shows
Never underestimate the power of a school production – for every single person involved. When you meet former students, sometimes from decades back in my case, it’s usually taking part in Oliver! or A Midsummer Night’s Dream that they reminisce about with shining eyes. Most importantly it’s a terrific bonding exercise. We hear a lot […]
New Perspectives
With three separate Lucian Freud exhibitions currently on, Graham Hooper took time to visit and here is his review of these contrasting shows. LLucian Freud would have been 100 this year, and that’s a good excuse to look back over his life and work, but especially his work, as the two have a rather nasty […]
Grandad Anansi – Half Moon Theatre
Predicated partly on Black History Month, Elayne Ogbeta’s muliti-layered play presents Grandad (Marcus Hercules) and his primary school age granddaughter, Abi (Jazmine Wilkinson) in his garden. Like everything else in this show, the garden designed by Sorcha Corcoran, is beautiful with lots of colour, light and plants that Grandad knows by name and talks to. […]
Theatre Review – The King of Nothing – Little Angel Theatre
Ben Glasstone’s charming, witty account of The Emperor Who Has No Clothes works well for two main reasons. First it is one of the most perceptive stories ever written, dealing as it does with vanity, self delusion, conformity and truth. It’s both topical and timeless. Second, we have a cost of living crisis and the […]
Book Review – Activist
by Louisa Reid Published by Guppy Books Cassandra, narrator of this powerful verse novel, is a reluctant sixth former in a prestigious mixed school, formerly all boys, where toxic culture simmers. Driven by her own experience, and by nature a feisty “shouter” she campaigns forcibly for acknowledgement that some of the boys at school treat […]
Book Review – A Poetry Pedagogy for Teachers: Reorienting Classroom Literacy Practice
by Maya Pindyck and Ruth Vinz, with Diana Liu and Ashlynn Wittchow The thrust of this detailed, well-researched, quite academic book about the poetry in classrooms is that we shouldn’t teach students to search for meaning so that “the poem becomes a specimen for examination under the microscope of interpretative practices”. Instead we should experience […]
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Susan Elkin visited a school in north London to see the National Theatre’s abridged version of The Curious Incident, touring schools nationwide, aiming to bring high quality theatre into schools to enrich teaching and learning. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is one of the National Theatre’s most successful shows of recent […]
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After changing their approach to school engagement six years ago, Oldham’s Coliseum Theatre’s secondary education partnership scheme is thriving, benefitting its wonderfully diverse community. Mark Glover headed to the town to find out more. As I wait to meet Carly Barclay, Head of Learning at the Coliseum Theatre, suddenly, there’s a huge clap of thunder, […]
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Mountview has moved to Peckham. Forget the notion of north and south London being in different countries. Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, whose name derives from its old London phone prefix, has cheerfully crossed the divide and is now a proud Southwark resident in a sparkling, spacious new home. Susan Elkin went to explore. Founded […]
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Long famous as an art college, Wimbledon College of Arts – part of University Arts London – is diversifying. From next year if will offer two new courses: BA (Hons) Acting & Performance and BA (Hons) Contemporary Theatre and Performance and the current college site is being upgraded and developed site to accommodate this work. Susan Elkin paid a visit.
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Susan Elkin puts the case for arts teachers to encourage students to embrace healthy eating and lifestyle. Hardly a day goes by without a hand-wringing news item about worsening obesity and the trouble it is likely to cause if it isn’t already doing so: not least unaffordable NHS costs. In the last month alone, we’ve […]
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Graham Hooper took time out during half-term, watching The Clock at the Tate Modern. I’m queuing to watch a film. Nothing unusual there, except this film is 24 hours long. Yes, that’s right, a whole day and night of big screen action. I say action, it’s mainly people looking at their watch, or a clock. […]
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Writer and director Debbie Isitt tells us about bringing the much-loved festive movie to the stage. For anyone who hasn’t seen the hit Christmas film, what is Nativity! The Musical about? It’s a classic story about a group of underdog kids in a challenging primary school trying to put on the best nativity play they […]
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Do not miss this gem of a production! Calendar Girls The Musical is on tour around the UK (currently dates through to August 2019) and will make you laugh and cry in equal measure. The production, based on the true story, the film and the award-winning play by Tim Firth, features musical numbers written by […]
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The Nutcracker and I is a very engaging piano recital with attached ballet, both actual and projected. I caught it at King’s Place in London before it embarked on a worldwide autumn/early 2019 tour There are some further UK dates in December. It’s an enticingly imaginative concept and a real joy to see/hear some […]
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This year’s NYT rep season opened with a timely revival of Evan Placey’s fine, topical 2015 play which asks many more questions about the complexity of sexual consent than it answers. The first half takes us to a school where married, mother of one, pregnant teacher Diane (Marilyn Nnadebe) is trying to “deliver” sexual relationships […]