this month's
Ink Pellet contains
Top Gs Like Me
Top Gs Like Me is a new play by Samson Hawkins which premieres at Royal and Derngate, Northampton in February 2026. Susan Elkin chats to Anna Simpson about the workshops and CPD sessions they are coordinating with the production. “We are very proud of Samson. He’s a local playwright who has been working dramaturgically with […]
Global Playwright
BIG INTERVIEW Global Playwright Oladipo “Dipo” Agboluaje, 57, is a British/Nigerian playwright best known for Early Morning (2003) and lya-lle (The First Wife) which won the Alfred Fargon Award in 2009. Susan Elkin talked to him. Dipo was born in Hackney, but his family returned to Nigeria when he was nine. “So I did all […]
ROYAL COURT YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS AWARD
The 2026 Young Playwrights Award is now officially nation-wide! Do you have an idea or a story to tell? Can you imagine it performed live, by actors on a stage? It’s time to start your playwriting journey. The Young Playwrights Award is a free, open-access competition for any teenager in the UK interested in writing a play, […]
VOICED: THE FESTIVAL FOR ENDANGERED LANGUAGES
With half of the world’s languages threatened to fall silent by the end of the century comes the first ever UK festival Voiced: The Festival for Endangered Languages, celebrating the power of language and art by highlighting endangered global and local languages through a creative festival. Throughout October, the Barbican, London will be filled with an explosion of voices and […]
NATIONAL THEATRE EXPANDS SCHOOLS PROGRAMME
The National Theatre has announced its autumn programme for schools across the UK, deepening its work with young people to support its continued ambition to reach every child in the UK before they leave school. Over 90% of state secondary schools are already signed up to access the National Theatre Collection to stream world-leading theatre directly […]
The National Plan for Drama and Theatre Education
Following feedback from drama teachers, educators and other interested parties, The National Plan for Drama and Theatre Education document is now completed and you can find a direct link to the pdf here. This is a mammoth achievement and a feat of collaboration. It has been widely circulated including to the DfE Team, whose members are also […]
BROADWAY LICENSING GLOBAL OFFERS UK TEACHERS FREE PERUSALS FOR HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD SECONDARY SCHOOL EDITION
The Critically Acclaimed Show Has Now Been Adapted for UK Secondary Schools (London)—Broadway Licensing Global London, Sonia Friedman Productions, Colin Callender and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions are thrilled to announce that secondary school teachers can now sign up for a free perusal script of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Secondary School Edition. BLG London […]
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 […]
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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LESLEY FINLAY shares the memories of a successful school project that involved a collaboration bringing students together with one of the country’s top publishers… Over the last few months I have been working with a group of young people from an academy in Margate, a town like many others with its pockets of poverty and […]
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As we move into the summer and thoughts of those year 13s moving in to the ‘real world’, you might want to consider this new series of books in the ‘Dummies’ series (although make sure they understand not to take the title personally!). Publishers Wiley have launched a new Getting a Job book series covering […]
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GRAHAM HOOPER explores the role children’s toys and games play in depicting conflict in the thought-provoking War Games exhibition currently on at the SeaCity Museum in Southampton. Could it be that guns actually look the way they do because they imitate their primitive ancestors, crafted by children playing in the woods, rather than the other […]
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Nothing boosts a child’s desire to engage than an exciting session of interactive learning. MARY HOPLEY reports on what happens when Sky Blue Theatre Company rocks into school for a breathtaking Shakespeare workshop. Facing a morning off from lessons, the excitement of the children was palpable as they filed into the hall for their Midsummer […]
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Spread your artistic wings this summer and take part in one of dozens of creative activities being run by engage, the organisation that tirelessly promotes access and enjoyment for all to the visual arts. No matter what kind of art you and your children enjoy, or even if you’ve never even thought about participating in […]
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If there was ever evidence needed that an actor’s lot is hard work, here it is. This physical production brings clowning, slapstick and acrobatics together in a hilarious fast-paced laugh out loud couple of hours. Created by Mischief Theatre, the team behind The Play that Goes Wrong, the same mayhem follows as Conley Polytechnic Drama […]
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What is art? That is the question primary school children are asked to answer in a national competition run by Artis, an organisation that integrates performing arts into learning. Rebecca Boyle Suh, executive chairman of Artis says: ‘The competition creates a lot of questions for teachers and children to work through together. Our aim is […]
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There was great delight among writers when Creative Writing was introduced as an A Level. Here, SHARON STEAD shares her experience of teaching the new qualification for the first time...
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After many years as a journalist, JOY WILKINSON is finally doing what she has always wanted to do – write plays for a living. Her new work, Britain’s Best Recruiting Sergeant, is set to give young people a fascinating insight into the First World War...
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With stage productions beamed into our cinemas, it is no surprise that the visual arts should get in on the act. LESLEY FINLAY joined a screening of a film about Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring as part of the Exhibition on Screen series...