Children’s Laureate Anne Fine, a writer garlanded with awards and famous for the Robin Williams film version of Madame Doubtfire, knows exactly how to get to the heart of matters, funny and serious, that affect young people and their families. In The Book of the Banshee she tackles the disruption to domestic harmony caused by the upheavals of adolescent behaviour.

Will, aged 14, compares living with his formerly easy-going sister, 13-year-old Estelle, with fighting in the First World War. This tale (TES reviewer of the book: “It had me in stitches throughout”) has been adapted as a play by Tina Williams, artistic director of Pied Piper Theatre Company, and will tour England, visiting 14 theatres, starting at the Yvonne Arnaud in Guildford on January 22 and ultimately reaching the Theatre Royal, Wakefield, on March 19. Tour details: 020 7323 2355.

Theatre enthusiasts still in post-Christmas telly-watching mode will relish the opportunity to see Olivier’s Lear on the Artsworld digital television channel tomorrow. Made at the end of his career, this study of a powerful ruler facing old age and death is probably his most touching and sensitive television performance.

Artsworld is proving to be a useful source of ideas for arts students and teachers. The Masterclass series, filmed at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, in London, is offering three tempting half-hour programmes for would-be actors and playwrights and, in one case, a highly illuminating treatment of a section from a set book. This latter is Janet Suzman’s session (January 26), in which she guides two students playing the scene from Twelfth Night in which Viola first meets Olivia.

Both actress and director, she is sensitive to the currents of thought beneath Shakespeare’s words, making this as much a text lesson as an acting masterclass. Ever thought, for instance, that Viola knows she is Olivia’s equal but, in the guise of Orsino’s servant, has to curb her natural directness?

Timothy West (January 12) provides tips on the differences between screen and stage performances, and Alan Ayckbourn (January 19), the consummate craftsman, gives such practical advice that I would expect every member of the audience to go off and write a play immediately. For further information: www.artsworld.com No doubt many TES readers have taken the opportunity to see the film of The Lord of the Rings during the holidays. This is only the first of three films following the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tolkien aficionados (and those who simply can’t wait for an adaptation of the rest of Frodo’s adventures) should tune in to Radio 4 on Saturdays at 2.30pm. The BBC is repeating its atmospheric and superbly acted version in 13 hour-long episodes (part two tomorrow). Performances by the likes of Ian Holm as Frodo (cast as Bilbo Baggins in the film), Bill Nighy and Michael Hordern make this a classy affair. The whole lot is also available on tape and CD.

Over-praised as literature - the characters for the most part remain two-dimensional on the page - the books have nevertheless inspired thousands to suspend disbelief and enter another world based on Anglo-Saxon and related mythologies. Radio is an excellent medium in which to combine a reader’s imagination with the help that professional actors can bring to characterisation.

Just before Christmas we had a look at the work of the National Youth Music Theatre. Since then the company has performed The Dreaming, its Edwardian version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Studio before London critics. As always at NYMT events, spotting future stars was a pleasurable activity to add to the overall enjoyment. Gloria Onitiri as Sylvia, the Titania figure, has a commanding presence and a beautiful voice, Jordan Metcalfe (Jack, the Changeling Boy-cum-Puck) is sweet-voiced and charming, Sian Williams as the Helena-equivalent, Jennifer, has a terrific comic sense, and many other cast members could succeed in the musical theatre, a difficult and competitive profession.

But at the end of the performance, artistic director Jeremy James Taylor had to make a short speech about the parlous state of the company’s finances. Despite some small donations, there has been no Christmas miracle. Let us hope the National Youth Music Foundation will come to the rescue in the spring. It would be criminal to allow such an inspiring organisation to languish for lack of subsidy. Meanwhile, auditions are imminent. See the company website: www.nymt.org.uk heather neill