Innehållsförteckning för November 2023 från Ink Pellet

I recall only three instances of representation from my experiences at school: one was the poem, Presents For My Aunts in Pakistan, the second was the poem Search For My Tongue and the third was studying 100 years of the British Empire for A level History. I remember smiling and feeling oddly confident in these lessons. It felt good to ‘relate’, to empathise with what I was reading and confidently answer questions about a shared culture, experience and history. Looking back, these experiences definitely inspired my choices in higher education and of course, teaching. However the more I reflect, the more I realise representation of my culture and identity was limited to some form of shame, guilt and of course, colonisation. I originated from a culture and people considered in…

Perhaps, having had a lumber merchant and woodcutter, and later owner of a junkyard, as a father, it is no surprise that Louise Nevelson turned to discarded fragments of wood as the source material for her sculptures. Alongside her brother, both new immigrants from Russia now living in New York having escaped the destruction of the war, she would scavenge the streets looking for offcuts to place in similarly abandoned crates. The results, painted typically in matt black, and re-configured into assemblages, became increasingly large in size, first wall-scale and finally monumental. Born at the very end of the 19th century, it was not until she was in her fifties that she gained any critical attention, though then, finally, came some degree of financial security. The Whitney Museum of American…

Iolanthe – WS Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan – English National Opera I suspect I like G&S rather more than director Cal McCrystal and his team do. Clearly no one in this production (revived from 2015) actually trusts the material. What on earth is the point of the pantomime cow? Or the flamingo? I realise that if you’ve paid for flight technology you want value for money, but there’s far too much whizzing about overhead for the sake of it in this show. And no director should ever upstage solo singers by putting gratuitous stage business behind them. I’ve seen this very basic error in amateur opera productions and winced. ENO really should know better than to have stagehands messing around with a flock of sheep on stage, while Phyllis (Ellie…

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“Yes, it’s been a crazy year and BGT was just what we needed to get it going,” says managing director Louise Perry to whom I’m chatting over cups of tea. “The company has done big things before: The Queen’s Jubilee, the Queen Mother’s birthday and TV with Diana, Princess of Wales but nothing lately so BGT came at just the right moment.” Louise admits, though, that she wasn’t keen when the young people first suggested entering. “I thought they’d find rigorous public criticism difficult, but they insisted they were ready for it and, of course, they were right”. Chickenshed, which is based in Southgate, in the London Borough of Enfield, has 650 members in its children’s and youth theatre and 150 in its adult theatre group. It employs 85 staff,…

I started reading the Booker Prize shortlist as an annual project in the 1980s. I was teaching secondary English to GCSE and A Level, and it meant I could talk to my students about current titles as I tried to encourage them to follow my example and try books which were not necessarily within the habitual comfort zone – because therein can often lurk new treasures. I always regarded developing wider reading as almost as important as getting everyone through the exam although, naturally, I did that too. I also saw it a personal, horizon-widening exercise – a form of professional development. Asareader, aswithsomuch else in life, it’s all too easy to like what you know and know what you like. And some of the discoveries were wonderful. I first…

FINALLY SEEN by Kelly Yang Published by Knights Of Lina is flying to America to join her parents who have, she thinks, made a new life for her there. She hasn’t seen them for five years because she has been living with her much-loved grandmother in China. She has never understood why she was left behind. Of course, she feels rejected and puzzled and life in the US isn’t what she’s expecting. She had been led to believe she was headed off to a better, more prosperous life. Instead, her parents are living at the edge of harsh immigrant economy including Green Card anxiety, there are bullying issues at school and she struggles with the language. This rich, rewarding Young Adult novel often reminds me of Michelle Magorian’s Back Home…

Intermission is fifteen years old. For a decade and a half, the company has been using drama as a way of taking seriously disadvantaged young people to a “safer place” so that they can – often – turn their lives round. Today there is a huge family of 250 alumni, many of whom now help with project leadership. I ask artistic director, Darren Raymond, how it all began. “Rob Gillion, who was then rector of St Saviour’s Church in Knightsbridge, and still our patron, offered me the chance to start a company when he found me in his congregation.” Darren continues: “Rob and his wife Jeanine have three passions: theatre, because he’d been an actor before he was ordained, helping marginalised people and, obviously, the church. A theatre group at…

All children have the right to experience our country’s world-leading theatre sector. The benefits are far reaching – it enhances children’s educational attainment and wellbeing, addresses skills shortages in the theatre sector and boosts the economy. But access is unequal. Children from low-income families are missing out the most because they are less likely to have access to cultural experiences outside of school. The ongoing cost-of-living crisis has also led to teachers and parents reporting a reduction in school trips of up to 68% compared to last year, which includes theatre visits. Ahead of the next general election in 2024, the Theatre for Every Child campaign asks all political parties to commit to fund a theatre visit for every child before they leave school. A pledge supported by 84 percent…

ALADDIN - HACKNEY EMPIRE Come on a journey to a magical world, as the much-loved tale of Aladdin flies into Hackney this festive season! Aladdin dreams of finding love and making his fortune. When he discovers an enchanted lamp and meets a mysterious genie, it looks like all of his wishes are going to come true. But are they, or will forces of evil stand in the way…? Directed by and starring Clive Rowe as Widow Twankey, expect an unbelievable cast, incredible costumes, uncontrollable laughter and song and dance numbers that are nothing short of genie-us! Cost: £10 - £45 Dates: 18Nov– 31Dec www.hackneyempire.co.uk ABTT THEATRE SHOW 2024 Bring your students to the ONLY exhibition in the UK focussing specifically on theatre and live events. Taking place at the stunning…

Is it difficult to market a theatre which is so … err.. tucked away? When people find it for the first time they routinely say “Well, I never knew this was here!” but of course we have companies who come here regularly and lots of regular audience members. We rarely have a sparsely attended performance. Anyway, we may not be in theatreland, as such, but we’re the only theatre in the City of London apart from The Barbican and we’re not in competition with them. What is the history of the building? It was a Victorian swimming pool and you can still see the wrought iron decorative spectators’ balcony. It was always floored over and used for other things in the winter. It was famous for table tennis, for example.…