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 […]
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LESLEY FINLAY enjoyed a stripped down version of Measure for Measure at the Rose Theatre, Bankside...
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JULIE PIRIE enjoys the ever-popular Journey's End and finds it continues to resonate with young audiences...
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There is still time to catch the wonderful The Man with the Luggage, Trestle's current production. Lesley Finlay explains why you should get a date in your diary...
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The delightful images of ballet dancers became the trademark of painter Edgar Degas. But there is more to the images than meets the eye as LESLEY FINLAY discovered...
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Shiori Kase is making a name for herself as one of the darlings of the ballet world. She spoke to LESLEY FINLAY during a break in the tour of Strictly Gershwin in which she dances an acclaimed pas de deux...
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Our Keith Gaines has spotted a new 'revenue stream' in the shape of free schools. Join him for the ride...
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The fairytale is still alive, relevant and kicking with much to teach all of us about our common humanity. LESLEY FINLAY spoke to director Melly Still on how she is bringing stories alive in her Christmas revival of Beasts and Beauties...
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LESLEY FINLAY took her cinema seat to see the latest adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre...
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Sometimes it takes time to understand the brilliance of Charles Dickens. This happened to PAUL WADEY, the Head of English at Gad’s Hill Place, the school which was once the writer’s final home. Here, he shares his Dickens journey…
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LESLEY FINLAY spoke to playwright Rupert Wickham about his approach to writing plays inspired by history...