Skip to main content

Ajaxpost Plays 2,500 Subscriber Giveaway!

To celebrate hitting the incredible milestone of 2,500 subscribers I have chosen a selection of top games that I've picked up from Humble Choice over the last couple of years, added in some choice new titles that I've really enjoyed playing on the channel and bundled them all into one big giveaway! I will draw FIVE lucky winners who can each choose one of these twenty five great games to take away and keep. All the games that aren't picked by the winners in this giveaway will be rolled forward into future giveaways on the channel. So, even if you don't win today, keep an eye on Ajaxpost Plays FIVE for further chances to grab an awesome game! See below for the full list of games in this draw. Terms and Conditions General The Ajaxpost Plays 2,500 Subscriber Giveaway ( the Giveaway ) is a lottery run exclusively by the Ajaxpost Plays YouTube Channel ( Ajaxpost Plays ) All the terms described here are in addition to the standard terms and conditions applied

On This Day: 18th April

On some days it appears that I just don't go to the theatre, but on others like today, the 18th of April, it's one of thoss lucky days!

So, once again Before The Lockdown on this day ...

in 2016

What I really love about theatre is the telling of a story, hearing someone's own tale and being given an insight into someone else's life in a way that might also shine a light on my own life, on something I hadn't previously realised.

Now, I'm not sure what I could personally take from Forever Yours, Mary-Lou (or À toi, pour toujours, ta Marie-Lou in the original French) at the Ustinov Studio in Bath, but it was story-telling at it's very best. Stripped down to basically just four chairs and judicious lighting this tale of a working class family (now in Dublin, rather than the original Montreal) argued, challenged, consoled each other as they, and we the audience, try to understand the horrific trauma that ripped each of them apart in such different ways.

Without the distraction of a fancy set or effects we focused entirely on what these four characters were saying and the impact it had on the others. Sometimes, the best theatre is just people talking and this the case here as we went through the twists and turns of uncovering the truth of what had happened some ten years ago to break this family apart.

in 2018

Over the last few years I have been seeing quite a bit of 'amateur' theatre. I am blessed in that locally I have the Bristol Old Vic with it's world renowned Theatre School, as well as it's local engagement schemes such as the BOV Young Company and Made In Bristol. In Bath there is the Bath Spa University Theatre School and the, if you will, properly 'amateur' Next Stage Theatre Company, and Next Stage Youth.

Whether aspiring professional creatives or just local people with a keen interest in theatre they all produce work of a very high standard.

One such, on this day, was Proof by Next Stage at the Mission Theatre in Bath. It's another tale of a somewhat dysfunctional family. This time dealing with issues of achieving greatness but finding it difficult to replicate and also of repressed and thwarted ambitions. All being brought into focus by the arrival of an eager assistant who inadvertently releases the tightly wound tensions that have built up over many years.

I had seen a professional production of this play five years earlier at the Theatre Royal Bath and recall having quite enjoyed it but this amateur production, set in a much smaller and more intimate space, seemed to make the emotional turmoil at the heart of the story even more compelling.

in 2019

Oh boy! I don't think I had ever previously indulged in interval Tweeting but seeing this one on my own I just had to say something to someone! As I recall it was quite a simple tweet ... "Holy crap, this is extraordinary!"

I had seen Equus twice before* but this new touring production I saw at the Bristol Old Vic had completely reworked the staging and created a simply magnificent work. The previous productions kept faithfully to the writer's original simple design and used some intricate and quite impressive puppetry work to create the horses that are central to the story. But even it had become something of a modern classic and, to me, it felt more of vehicle to demonstrate the actors ability to tell a difficult and at time horrifying story.

This new version stripped the staging back to just the simplest of props, dramatic lighting and sound effects while the horses were represented 'just' by the actors themselves using only their bodies and movement to represent the power, muscularity, and sensuality of the beasts.

With two incredible, but relatively unknown, actors in the lead roles of the troubled young man and his psychiatrist the story was given a new life. No longer a fairly staid talky work with a couple of  dramatic set pieces this new Equus had power, energy, movement, real passion and real despair. It's difficult to describe in mere words but  I was left, speechless, breathless, and exhilarated.

As I said at the time, a quite extraordinary theatrical experience!



* First in 2007 with Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths, and then again in 2008 with Alfie Allen and Simon Callow in the lead roles.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ajaxpost Plays 2,500 Subscriber Giveaway!

To celebrate hitting the incredible milestone of 2,500 subscribers I have chosen a selection of top games that I've picked up from Humble Choice over the last couple of years, added in some choice new titles that I've really enjoyed playing on the channel and bundled them all into one big giveaway! I will draw FIVE lucky winners who can each choose one of these twenty five great games to take away and keep. All the games that aren't picked by the winners in this giveaway will be rolled forward into future giveaways on the channel. So, even if you don't win today, keep an eye on Ajaxpost Plays FIVE for further chances to grab an awesome game! See below for the full list of games in this draw. Terms and Conditions General The Ajaxpost Plays 2,500 Subscriber Giveaway ( the Giveaway ) is a lottery run exclusively by the Ajaxpost Plays YouTube Channel ( Ajaxpost Plays ) All the terms described here are in addition to the standard terms and conditions applied

Am I A 'YouTuber' Now?

So, this was a post I wrote back in October 2020 but, for some reason never quite finished or published it...🤔 The situation has escalated somewhat since then, in August 2023 my little hobby channel had acquired an astonishing 2,500 subscribers!  I wonder if my musings of three years ago are still valid (I have made some minor edits to the original draft for spelling and grammar) ... Well, it was just a little hobby, to share the fun I was having with my Sims 3 stories and now I've reached the first big 'proper YouTuber' milestone ... 1,000 subscribers!! In December 2015 I uploaded my first ever gameplay video, "Slade Dynasty Chronicles Intro : Sims 3 Lets Play" As ropey as it was, I think I was actually using just the microphone on my cheap-as-chips headset, I actually enjoyed the process of creating videos and the very kind Sims 3 community were encouraging in their support. I experimented with other games and types of video, trying to work out what I most

Car Mechanic Simulator 2021: Audi TT Mk1 Rebuild

  Barn Find I've suspended my CMS21 series for the time being, it may return for occasional one-off specials or if enough viewers demand it! So, while I'm still playing and enjoying the game I thought I would continue to share some of my favourite jobs with you, at least in pictorial form. Thus first one is an Audi TT Mk1 that I found in a barn. The vehicle is a mod created by Bostonawy and includes some wonderful livery choices, as you'll see at the end of this post. So, this is the car I brought back to my Numpty The Car Fixer garage:   As you can see it's in pretty good condition, well, apart from the mechanicals!  For such a quality brand, and at less than £14,000, I was happy to take away this sporty little number as a restoration project. Apart from the accumulated dirt and dust, the body was generally in good shape. For this job, I didn't go overboard on performance, just some tweaking of the ignition and fuel systems but I made sure that some key compone