Ajaxpost Plays: Beyond The Game

This was definitely a day for creative students Before The Lockdown: in 2017 The Bath Spa University Theatre Society was at the Mission Theatre in Bath to put on Our Country's Good . If you've been reading the older pages on this Blog you may recall that I saw a professional production of this well-regarded play back in 2014 . So, I'll be very lazy and repeat some of what I said then:  " there's a lot to like about Our Country's Good ... It's a play about the redemptive power of art, in particular of theatre, and the injustice and immorality of an impersonal legal system that fails to account for social context. " Just like when I saw it in 2014, I came away from this amateur production with much the same feeling, that for me " it's just not a very exciting play. " Despite having a much smaller budget and thus a significantly less impressive set and lacking the polish of a professional production this presentation did have a f...

A pertinent question was asked on this day Before The Lockdown: in 2019 Among the many interesting amateur groups putting on productions in Bath are the creative students of Bath Spa University's Theatre Society. On this day I saw their presentation of Mike Bartlett's 13 at the Mission Theatre in Bath. Apparently wondering whether a shared social conscience, in this case an apocalyptic nightmare, in response to genuine political turmoil can be harnessed by a 'visionary' to effect political change. It's a challenging piece in that it tries to explore multiple individual stories to find some common ground between them and then link that to the political process. The individual stories and each one's relationship with the 'visionary' was interesting but I'm not sure it actually came together sufficiently to pose a coherent question or offer any real insight into personal or political motivations. That, though, was not due to the production bu...

This was a bit of  a killer day at the mission Before The Lockdown: in 2018 From mid May to early June Bath enjoys a cultural explosion with a full on Festival, a Fringe and something called SparkFest a curated selection of delights from students on the creative courses at Bath Spa University. For my first show from the SparkFest list I chose Infamous which was put on at the Mission Theatre in Bath. A short devised pieces which wonders what might happen if five (in)famous assassins, from John Wilkes Booth to Andrew Cunanan, were to meet in some sort of afterlife. Would they compare notes, would they fight amongst themselves to take the title of being the most infamous? As with many student productions it delivered an intriguing concept put together by a team of talented people ready to take up a creative profession in 2019 Bath's Next Stage Theatre Company celebrated it's 25 year anniversary in 2019. To my shame I only discovered them in 2014 but they, and the Mis...