Table of contents for March 2026 in Ink Pellet

Twenty-five years ago Amit Lahav had a vision. He wanted to create a piece of original work. “There were a group of us in our late twenties from different performance backgrounds” says Gecko’s associate director, Helen Baggett, who is Lahav’s partner in life as well as in work. “Amit had come through the Rose Bruford physical theatre strand and I’d trained at Middlesex Poly and was a founder member of Candoco Dance Company.” Alongside income-generating jobs such as hospitality or teaching, they devised and developed Taylor’s Dummies which started life at the Lion and Unicorn, a modest pub theatre in Kentish Town, North London. It was then reborn at Battersea Arts, toured nationally and internationally and then went to Edinburgh. “And we had to give ourselves a name for marketing…

As usual there has been a lot of talk about films in the early part of this year – it’s the awards season, after all. This year, though, there has been much more literary angst than usual. First came Hamnet. Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s seductive novel (2020), it speculates very imaginatively about the possible connection between the death of Shakespeare’s only son, aged 11, and the play Hamlet which landed in London at about the same time. The truth, of course, is that we know surprisingly little about Shakespeare’s life so there’s plenty of scope for creative people to fill in the gaps. It is, I can attest, a fine and moving film with excellent work from both Jessie Buckey (she won a BAFTA for this and is up for…

Hadestown – Lyric Theatre Spring means a fresh cast has stepped into Hadestown, now in its third year in London – and honestly, it still hits just as hard. If anything, this new lineup proves why the show’s become such a staple. It takes Greek myth and somehow makes it feel completely current, mixing folk, jazz, and soul with a really distinctive visual style that feels both gritty and poetic. The central stories of Orpheus and Eurydice alongside Hades and Persephone, all set in this industrial, almost dystopian underworld. It sounds heavy, but it’s actually super engaging – exploring love, power, and hope in a way that feels pretty relevant right now. Performance-wise, the cast really delivers. Clive Rowe as Hermes basically owns the stage – he’s warm, funny, and…

Opera is for everyone. It’s a form of musical theatre, a genre which is more popular than it’s ever been, yet opera in Britian has an elitist not-for-us image. It’s odd really because in Italy, where opera was born, it’s as mainstream as football – a key component of Italian cultural heritage and image at every level. Enter Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (RBC), part of Birmingham City University, with the renewed funding and plenty of enthusiasm to dent that and put opera where it belongs – available to all and nothing to fear or sneer at. The Linbury Trust has granted RBC £210,000 to further develop its Opera Outreach project which has been in place since 2023. In the last three years over 1,200 primary school children have attended RBC student…

GUILDHALL SCHOOL OF MUSIC & DRAMA Online and in-person 2026 Easter short courses, covering drama, writing, and creative industries for ages 18 and up. These include 4 drama courses, 2 new writing courses, and 1 new skills for the creative industry course. The deadline to book for all Easter short courses is 5pm, Thursday 2 April 2026, or when the course reaches full capacity. Introduction to Screen Acting (Ages 18+) (in person) Delivered in person from Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 April 2026, 10am – 5pm This two-day course will introduce participants to the techniques and skills required for acting in film and television. Audition Technique: Acting (Ages 17+) (in person) Delivered in person from Saturday 11 – Sunday 12 April 2026, 10am–5pm This two-day course taught by Guildhall alumnus…

How did you get started in theatre? I grew up with it in Stoke-on-Trent. My mum was a community theatre artist. Then I joined Alsager Community Theatre and did a Cheshire Youth Theatre residential course when I was 15. I did a bit of performing along the way, but I’m severely dyslexic so learning lines wasn’t for me. Neither was the BTec I started and dropped out of. So you got a job? Yes, I knocked on the door of the Lyceum Theatre in Crewe and they put me on follow spot for their pantomime. Then the Dame’s boyfriend, who was the Assistant Stage Manager, had a panic attack and, without, knowing what it involved, I somehow took over his job. After that I stayed at the Lyceum. It wasn’t an…

He is a musical powerhouse. Speaking to me via Zoom from Bristol, where he lives with his wife and three children, Jeremy Holland-Smith is surrounded by screens and the all-important eight octave keyboard. “I think laterally when I’m orchestrating” he says. “That, I suspect, may be because I was, and am, an organist. A big cathedral organ is like a whole orchestra. It isn’t just a matter of pushing stops and pedals. You have to find a full range of orchestral colour.” Jeremy, who grew up in Essex. started young. “I went, aged 7, on a full scholarship – there was definitely no way my parents could have paid for it – to board at St Paul’s Choir School. The regime was pretty brutal. You were allowed to see your…

Imagine it’s 1936 – ninety years ago. World War Two lies in the future although there are nasty things going on in Germany, and the new King is not following the rule book and will have abdicated by the end of the year. But children’s books still matter and The Carnegie Medal for Writing is established this year by UK Library Association to honour the centenary of the birth of Scottish born philanthropist Andrew Carnegie who, among other things, set up more than 2,800 libraries. The following year the first Medal was awarded for a book published in 1936. It went to Pigeon Post by Arthur Ransome. Since then, apart from a handful of occasions when no book was deemed worthy, it has been awarded annually. Winners across nine decades…

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