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 […]
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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Chickenshed, whose slogan is “Theatre changing lives” is an inclusive theatre company in north London which also runs further and higher education courses. Since 2000 it has established 19 “sheds” in the UK and two in Russia to develop inclusive theatre elsewhere. Susan Elkin talks to Lou Stein who took over as director in April.
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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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Once upon a time, in 1981, there were two men, a woman and a passion for theatre. Oily Cart, which specialises in theatre for young children and for those with special needs and disabilities (SEND) was on the way. Tim Webb shares memories and reflections with Susan Elkin in celebration of the company’s 35th anniversary. […]
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Susan Elkin visits Arnhem Wharf Primary, a school committed to the arts, and is inspired by seeing the Ex Cathedra Choir in rehearsal I’m sitting in a classroom at the attractively light, bright and modern Arnhem Wharf Primary School on the Isle of Dogs in Tower Hamlets on a spring Monday morning. 30 eight and […]
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Adrian McDougall, Yvonne Stone and Eliot Guiralarocca talk to Susan Elkin about Blackeyed Theatre and its forthcoming new show, Frankenstein. “We specialise in touring small scale shows to venues all over the country” says Adrian McDougall who founded Bracknell-based Blackeyed Theatre Company in 2004. The company has just completed a successful six month tour of […]
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Not all drama schools are the same. Susan Elkin takes a peek inside Fourth Monkey’s new premises to discover a communal hub with a strong vocational drive. Stage smoke, sinister lights, shadow work, love, murder, a naked man, revenge, a castration, a female protagonist, glee, lust and much more. Welcome to the murky world […]
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Graham Hooper leads us through several of the major photography exhibitions running in London and finds he sees the world differently as a result
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Samantha Lane, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Little Angel Theatre, Islington chats to Susan Elkin
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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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Susan Elkin joined authors and educationalists at the Action for Children’s Arts Awards in London and hopes you will follow her lead in supporting this worthy body to help campaign for greater access to creativity and the arts for young children In November a large group of people passionate about the arts and what they […]