1. THE BIG INTERVIEW: Evan Placey

    THE BIG INTERVIEW: Evan Placey  

    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) […]

  2. Celebrating 35 years on a Cart

    Celebrating 35 years on a Cart  

    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. […]

  3. Singing Up for Shakespeare

    Singing Up for Shakespeare  

    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 […]

  4. Creating a monster

    Creating a monster  

    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 […]

  5. Inside The Monkey House

    Inside The Monkey House  

    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 […]

  6. EXHIBITION: The Common Strand – archetypes and stereotypes in Photography

    EXHIBITION: The Common Strand – archetypes and stereotypes in Photography  

    Graham Hooper leads us through several of the major photography exhibitions running in London and finds he sees the world differently as a result

  7. Theatre Review: I love you Mum – I promise I won’t die. A production by Oasis Youth Theatre

    Theatre Review: I love you Mum – I promise I won’t die. A production by Oasis Youth Theatre  

    A verbatim play written by Mark Wheeller using the testimonies of Daniel Spargo-Mabbs’ friends and family. Premiere performance at The BRIT School, Tuesday 29th March 2016 In May 1997 Daniel Spargo-Mabbs was born. His parents, like every parent wondered what he will achieve, what job will he do? In January 2014 I was pregnant and my […]

  8. Theatre Review: Kinky Boots

    Theatre Review: Kinky Boots  

    Based on the film written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth, Kinky Boots is one of those gloriously English stories about (fairly) ordinary people overcoming human problems in an unlikely but theatrically spectacular way. It’s in the same tradition as The Full Monty and Brassed Off. It makes a gloriously vibrant musical and it’s hard […]

  9. Book Review: Oxford Dictionary of Original Shakespearean Pronunciation by David Crystal

    Book Review: Oxford Dictionary of Original Shakespearean Pronunciation by David Crystal  

    Shakespeare rhymes ‘war’ with ‘jar’, ‘scar’, ‘afar’, and ‘bar’ in various plays and poems. Never does he rhyme it with ‘more’. That, of course, is because pronunciation changes continually (listen to 1940s radio broadcasts for evidence if you need it) and Shakespeare has been dead for 400 years. And, obviously, it was far from fixed […]

  10. Book Review: Much ado about Shakespeare Written and illustrated by Donovan Bixley

    Book Review: Much ado about Shakespeare Written and illustrated by Donovan Bixley  

    Book Review of Much ado about Shakespeare, written and illustrated by Donovan Bixley.