Ajaxpost Plays: Beyond The Game

Two very different shows in very different venues on this day Before The Lockdown: in 2011 What can you say about Avenue Q ? This time at the Bristol Hippodrome, having previously seen it in London five years earlier, and it was still wonderfully joyous, poignant, uplifting, and celebratory. I think Avenue Q  would have been the first time I'd seen any show that used puppets as characters and the wonder of it was that you very quickly forgot that they were puppets. Even, as in the case of Avenue Q when their handlers are there on stage visibly operating them. They believed they were real and were so unashamedly 'real' that you couldn't not believe in them as well. Tackling very real issues, that are to our shame still real issues today, including racism, homelessness, anxiety, sexual identity all with a warmth and humour that engages with everyone. A wonderful, wonderful show. I really should see it again. in 2019 Burdall's Yard is described as an ...

It was all about truth and perception on this day Back Before The Lockdown: in 2016 I was in the main house of the Theatre Royal Bath to see The Truth . In the preceding years I had seen two plays from the same author, Florian Zeller, and translator, Christopher Hampton; the brilliant The Father and The Mother both of which had their UK premiere in the smaller Ustinov studio before heading to London's West End. Buoyed by those successes this one started in London before coming out to Bath and attracted a much larger audience, hence being on the main stage. Although sharing a similar fascination with perception, reality, and truth this new play was significantly more comic in style, using many of the familiar tropes of a farce in it's depiction of romantic deceits and misdirections but all with a modern twist that made it feel fresh. Even so, after the two previous powerfully emotive productions this one was inevitably more light-weight and so, for me, less impressive,...

As much as I've tried I really can't find a cute thematic bon mot to apply to the theatrical rundown on this day Before The Lockdown... in 2003 Still working out what I really liked about theatre one simple selection method was recognisable names from TV. Office Games at the Pleasance Theatre in London fitted that bill quite nicely With relative stage newcomers Adam Rickitt and Charlie Brooks fresh from Coronation Street and EastEnders respectively and the well established Richard O'Callaghan. A basic office comedy with all the usual shenanigans that follow a important figure being embarrassed by a mistake that is then blamed on a junior who then seeks some sort of revenge. With being set in the British Foreign Office after the first world war this one had the added comedic value of historical attitudes. A modestly entertaining evening I recall little of the plot or the characters but what I do remember is that we bumped into Adam Rickitt at the tube station on...

Going back, back in time, Before The Lockdown... in 2019 Back in 2017 I saw a wonderfully energetic, joyful, and also savagely poignant play about the promise of the Tony Blair's 1997 election victory so I was delighted that the same company, the Bristol born Wardrobe Ensemble, were bringing their earlier hit 1972: The Future of Sex back to the Bristol Old Vic. It was just as good. The same great soundtrack, energetic precision choreography, sharp humour and genuinely heartfelt personal stories. By deftly alternating through several stories of emergent sexual awareness in the, supposedly, simpler 70s we're reminded that getting to grips with sex, sexuality, gender, and the associated 'politics' is as it has always been ... a minefield.

It seems I have only been busy once on this day Before The Lockdown ... in 2017 Now, this is an odd one. The Ustinov Studio in Bath has a reputation for the highest quality theatrical productions. In recent years it has brought internationally acclaimed works to the British stage for the first time and hosted some of the best actors in the world to what you might otherwise think is just a small provincial studio space. Clearly not every show will be world class, and not every audience member will love every production but the Ustinov's hit rate is among the very best. On this day in 2017 I saw The Mentor , the first of Daniel Kehlmann's plays to be seen in the UK although he outsells both JK Rowling and Dan Brown in his home country. In the lead role is Oscar winning actor F Murray Abraham, enticed back to a British stage for the first time in ten years. The setup is ripe for satirical comedy, as a brash new writer spends time, supposedly to hone his craft, at the home...

Mental health is something we are all more aware of these days so it's interesting that on this day Before The Lockdown I saw two productions that, in quite different ways, raise issues of mental well-being. in 2012 There are some works that have become 'national treasures' and Abigail's Party is, without doubt, one of those. This production, which I saw at the Theatre Royal Bath, came from the well-regarded Menier Chocolate Factory with an interesting mix of established stage and TV actors, most of whom had significant success in TV soaps. Their familiarity with the heightened domestic drama of a TV soap served them very well in this excellent production. With a wonderfully evocative 1970s kitsch (in today's terms anyway) living room set these (mostly) appalling characters were brought to life as we laughed and cringed in equal measure at how awful their behaviour was. Back then, it was showing off our taste in terrible decor or music choices that we used ...

Well, having taken a rest on 16th April from theatre-going for the last few years, I resume normal service on this day ... but while preparing this day's post I realise something very spooky! On this same day, nine years apart,the two plays I saw were both written by Laura Wade! 😮 So what were they? in 2010 This was actually the first production of Laura Wade's Posh , at the Royal Court, London. Very much an "actors theatre" the Royal Court has seen some of the best talent on it's stages, including many at the start of glittering careers. What we didn't know then was that handsome fellow about town Kit Harrington , in what I think was only his second professional stage role, was already prepping Jon Snow in Game of Thrones! In fact, looking at the cast list now, there are quite a few names that are now frequently seen on TV, Stage, and film. A very British play about the foul underbelly of privilege at the heart of our politics then (and to a larg...

In recent years I have been able to see much more theatre and these Before The Lockdown memory posts might serve to emphasise what I am missing but I would like to think of them as a warm blanket of nostalgia while we wait out this cold winter of isolation and look forward to a heady summer of new cultural delights. Anyway, on this day... In 2018 In London, returning to the Royal Court for the second time that year after a four year gap to see Instructions For Correct Assembly . A witty and smartly staged comment on what is an age-old desire - that the people we love could be 'better' and more attuned to our own needs. With obvious reference to such familiar tales as The Stepford Wives and more recent TV dramas like Humans it asks what might happen if a family could replace a troublesome child with a 'perfect' synthetic? In 2019 In London again, this time at The Arcola to see a new stage musical of one of my favourite films, Little Miss Sunshine . ...

According to me all my records I did nothing of note on 7th April, which might have suggested that this 'daily' record was unravelling but no! Those empty days just go to prove that I did stuff, real stuff, on other days. That's good, isn't it? 😉 So, for example, I do know what I did on the 8th of April ... In 2019 A most entertaining evening at the New Wimbledon Theatre with the 2 Mouthed Men and their surprisingly good beatbox sketch comedy! That's surprising in the sense that beatbox and comedy sketches aren't words you hear together very often, and certainly not when describing the same thing! Oh, and there were some fine hot guitar licks and rapping along the way as well. You can get a sense of their thing' ...