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 […]
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
-
Susan Elkin meets the ArtsEd’s Chris Hocking to find out why the school continues to be so successful and is in such high demand “I think we are probably the school of choice for anyone wanting to specialise in musical theatre” says Chris Hocking, principal designate of Arts Educational Schools in Chiswick and currently head of […]
-
NATIONAL THEATRE TO TOUR IBSEN’S MASTERPIECE HEDDA GABLER Following a sold-out run at the National Theatre’s Lyttelton Theatre, the NT will begin a UK tour of its acclaimed production of Hedda Gabler on 2 October 2017. Beginning at Theatre Royal Plymouth, the tour will journey across the UK finishing on 3 March 2018. Just married. […]
-
The Design Ventura competition organised by the Design Museum invites product design entries from secondary schools. Susan Elkin visits the Museum’s stunning new home.
-
Eager not to miss the Rauschenberg retrospective at the Tate Modern, Graham Hooper guides us through this extraordinary show.
-
Poor SATS results putting pressure on a headteacher’s job… a new play examines the issues and Susan Elkin meets the playwright.
-
Hot on the heels of the new Digital Theatre+ platform release featured in last month’s InkPellet (see bit.ly/IP112Nov16), we asked Matthew Nichols (Director of Drama, Manchester Grammar School and Chief Examiner of GCSE Drama, AQA) to take us through his ideal playlist on DT+, as a guide for drama teachers looking to use digital resources to support the teaching of design skills in the classroom
-
A visit to the new Winton Gallery at the Science Museum highlights the role mathematics has in shaping our world. Susan Elkin is our guide.
-
Susan Elkin pays a visit to Half Moon Theatre to learn how they are enthusing pupils to look at possible careers in the theatre Half Moon Young People’s Theatre in Limehouse has been quietly providing productions and training for children and young people since 1972. That’s 44 years and yet there are still people who […]
-
“Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love” This March, West Yorkshire Playhouse presents Shakespeare’s classic tale of youthful defiance in a vibrant new production of Romeo & Juliet. Set against an epic Northern landscape this is a powerful portrayal of one of the greatest love stories ever told. A brutal and long […]
-
The INTO FILM Festival returns with 3000 free screenings and events from 9 – 25 November 2016 – Diversity, Wellbeing and Anti-Bullying are the key themes of world’s largest annual youth film festival A free trip to the cinema is once again on offer for schools all over the UK this Autumn as part of the […]