this month's
Ink Pellet contains
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 […]
The Boy at the Back of the Class
Ahead of its upcoming new UK tour, The Boy at the Back of the Class author Onjali Q. Raúf chatted with Ink Pellet about its increased relevance in today’s fractured society and the associated education resources developed for schools. First published in 2018, The Boy at the Back of the Class has won many awards […]
Reduced Shakespeare Company tour
Ahead of new UK tour, co-writer and director Adam Long found time to chat with Susan Elkin about the exciting new cast and associated education pack developed for schools. The Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC) is back with a six-month, nationwide tour of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) visiting 29 venues from Chipping Norton […]
Playing Mr Wickham
Adrian Lukis, 68, played Mr Wickham in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and has a developed a one man show based on that. Susan Elkin spoke to him. Read the full interview in the January 2026 issue at: http://bit.ly/IP163Jan26
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, […]
Sidebar
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Funny how knowledge of Shakespeare is shaped by which play you study at school. For me, this was The Merchant of Venice and Hamlet (thank goodness). Later came the discovery of King Lear, Othello, Macbeth; and now as editor of Ink Pellet, I have been fortunate enough to see many more (Much Ado, The Tempest […]
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Review by E Mountfort I have to confess that I am not a big fan of musicals. I understand why students like The Lion King (maybe because of the film) and it does seem to be the case that if a play doesn’t have music it’s boring. I have bitter memories of this. So it […]
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Published by Luath Press Ltd Review by Robbie Dhillon (Year 10 Norton Knatchbull School, Ashford) In a post-apocalyptic world where humanity has been torn apart by oil wars and devastating fl oods, Last Days in Eden follows the story of sixteen year-old Flora Mandela, a survivor, spending her life selling goods at her home, Shell […]
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The Carnegie-award-winning novel was a little tough for Lesley Finlay...
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The Art of Being Normal is published by David Fickling Books this month. Allison Johnstone took a look...
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Actor Jeremy Swift has graced our screens and stages over the years and won a role in the television series of the moment, playing Spratt in Downton Abbey. Now he is back on stage as Mr Perks in The Railway Children. Here he shares a snapshot of a day in rehearsals...
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Lesley Finlay catches up with Michael Morpurgo and finds him in reflective mood...
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Working in perfect harmony all round drama expert, Holly Barradell, shares her experience of bringing key organisations together for the benefit of students...
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All those who think art is rubbish might take a leaf out of GRAHAM HOOPER’S (second hand) book as he takes a look at a brace of exhibitions...
