this month's
Ink Pellet contains
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 […]
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 […]
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The BalletBoyz dance company continues to promote new dance work and opportunities for male dancers. Susan Elkin takes us for a spin Billy Elliot has a lot to be thanked for. Rarely can a fictional boy have affected so many lives and freed up so many creative, talented and/or enthusiastic children – along with those […]
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Susan Elkin guides us through some of the options available to both the young and experienced performers during the summer months How do you advise that very enthusiastic student in your drama class who simply can’t get enough? She or he wants to go to drama school. Parents are anxious. The answer could be to […]
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In our most recent installment from Digital Theatre+, leading education platform for English and the Performing Arts, we asked Alesha Tatum-Howe, Chair of the Fine Arts Department at Wakeland High School in Texas, to take us through her ideal playlist on DT+. The result is an indispensable guide for drama teachers looking for resources to […]
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Graham Hooper examines the relationship between political events and art, as reflected in the current exhibition at the British Museum. The centenary of the Russian Revolution is too good an opportunity to miss for art galleries, and rightly so; the impact in design, painting and sculpture, even architecture, is still felt today. That this year, […]
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Southwark, on the south side of the Thames in London, has attracted another leading arts organisation, with the RCSSD’s recently opened Bankside studio spaces. Susan Elkin went to investigate The world of theatre and education seems to be enjoying a spate of drama school moving, or diversifying, into south London. In our last issue we […]
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Can we love two people equally? Is a gay relationship – which won’t generally populate the world – natural or acceptable? This frisky, oddly old fashioned show – which wears its seriousness lightly – did very well at the Edinburgh Fringe last year and it’s easy to see why. A five hander, it wittily explores […]
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Rooted in the concept of performance poetry Boys Don’t presents three gut-wrenching monologues exploring the idea that boys and men really do need to be able to express their feelings – by crying, if necessary. As one of them asserts firmly “Sometimes boys cry”. Each man – yes, it’s an all male cast and justifiably […]
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Jamie Lloyd’s production of Roddy Doyle’s smash hit novel-cum-movie hits the road in its first UK tour, following a couple of years at London’s Palace Theatre. Re-directed for the road by Caroline J Ranger, it’s a pretty disappointing evening overall. For the uninitiated, the loose plot follows Dublin music obsessive Jimmy Rabbitte (Andrew Linnie) as […]
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by Lucy Kerbel Published by Nick Hern Books Over the years, the theatre industry has often come in for criticism for its male gender bias. And while gender equality has improved in society over the last decade, Lucy Kerbel, founder and director at Tonic Theatre, and author of 100 great plays for women, suggests that […]
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by David Crystal Published by Oxford The verb ‘to be’ is the commonest in any language. That’s why it is invariably irregular: I am, you are, he is or je suis, tu es, il est and so on. This intriguing book, smilingly subtitled “A verb’s eye view of the English Language” examines said verb and […]