Let’s talk Theatre!

Oxford Playhouse has a fine selection of audio described performances on offer in their winter 2010 season.

An exciting first-time adaptation of Graham Greene’s intriguing spy thriller and unlikely love story set during the Blitz – The Ministry of Fear - a taut espionage thriller and unnerving portrait of a mind in freefall. Not to be missed at Oxford Playhouse an audio described performance will be on Saturday 20 March at 2.30pm.

An audio described performance of Tennessee Williams’ autobiographical play; The Glass Menagerie will be available on Saturday 24 April at 2.30pm. This autobiographical play is a brilliant and compelling portrait of a family in crisis, and a classic of twentieth century American theatre.

Please let the Ticket Office know that you are would like the audio described facility when booking your tickets. To book call the Ticket Office on 01865 305305.

To request an audio brochure with full details of events at Oxford Playhouse contact Lisa Wood on 01865 305399. or email lisa.wood@oxfordplayhouse.com

If eye trouble means trouble reading, have a look at Eye Pal

As some of you will know, for a number of years we have had a selection of different scanning and reading devices on display here at OAB, writes David Thompson. These are extremely useful for people who do not have sufficient vision to read print, because they do not require that you use sight, they scan the document to be read and using Optical Character Recognition, OCR, to interpret the text, they then read out the document using Speech Synthesis, in reality, a human sounding reading voice. The most recent of these being the excellent Scannar from Humanware. Actually, the sad news is that we no longer have this piece of equipment. The good news is that Humanware have replaced it with something far more compact, easier and quicker to use, a machine called The Eyepal Solo!

It is called Solo because it will read for you on it’s own - no other equipment or additional lights are needed, no buttons to push, no manuals to read, just turn it on and enjoy!

It comes ready to use right out of the box. It is a self contained motion activated reading device that instantly reads from any book or printed material. Just plug it in, place down a book or newspaper and it reads to you! If it is not the page you wanted to read, remove it. Reading will stop immediately. If you need to pause reading, for example if the phone or doorbell rings, wave your hand over the reading material and it will pause, pass your hand again and it resumes.

I was a little sceptical when I heard about the Eyepal Solo, however, having seen it and demonstrated it on a number of occassions, I am impressed at how quick and easy to use it is and how readily those I have shown it to get the hang of using it. I would heartily recommend that anyone who is having serious difficulty reading print come to see us at Bradbury Lodge.

For more information on the Eyepal Solo, or to book an appointment , please call OAB on 01865 725595.

Web Link EyePal Solo