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
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I know what you’re thinking; not another reading initiative. But this one is different, I promise. It’s teacher-led, easy to implement, cheap as chips and has the ‘wow’ factor. It is called the Patron of Reading. A patron is a published writer, poet, illustrator or storyteller who is invited by a particular school to be […]
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Students of politics would do well to book a ticket for David Hare’s The Absence of War. Opening at the Crucible Theatre next month ahead of a national tour, this is a Headlong, Rose Theatre Kingston and Sheffield Theatres production, so expect good work from director Jeremy Herrin and his cast and creatives. The play […]
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The work of great British artist John Virtue is celebrated at a new exhibition in one of our newest galleries by the sea. INK PELLET looks into this artist’s work...
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It’s bizarre but true: Brian ‘boom boom’ Blessed has never before played King Lear on stage. True, true, true! Now that particular anomaly is set right with the actor’s debut in the role at Holy Trinity Church Guildford from January 17 for 25 performances. He will also be performing alongside his daughter Rosalind who will […]
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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...