Under Milk Wood (April 2017)

Let's be honest. On reflection I see that we should not have dared to perform this play. Everything is against it. It was written for radio so has no stage directions. Even though I have seen it staged twice, neither was wholly successful It is verbose and yet has no plot. The first half of the piece is set in darkness and the characters - all quite insane, by the way - are dreaming.

And yet, and yet... It is wonderful, so beautiful, each word selected from a special vocabulary known only to Dylan Thomas; no other word will do. It purrs with love!

Love is everything in 'Under Milk Wood'. Thomas had his home in a small Welsh coastal town and this is his paean to it, the mythical Llareggub. His eye observed it all; town harbour, dogs, sheep, people. He wrote a prose poem, unique and unrepeatable. Humour (try Llareggub backwards), sadness, tittle-tattle, righteous indignation - It's all there, distilled into words.

We welcome John and Louie Atkin, Cathy Lloyd and Bob Almquist to the cast. They and the others are obliged to play 64 named parts.

-- Harry Kennedy, Director.

Synopsis

The play opens at night, when the citizens of Llareggub are asleep. Captain Cat, the blind sea captain, is tormented in his dreams by his drowned shipmates, who long to live again and enjoy the pleasures of the world. Mog Edwards and Myfanwy Price dream of each other; Mr. Waldo dreams of his childhood and his failed marriates; Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard dreams of her deceased husbands.

Morning begins. The Reverend Eli Jenkins delivers a morning semon on his love for the village. Lily Smalls wakes and bemoans her pitiful existence. Mr. and Mrs. Pugh observe their neighbours; Mrs. Cherry Owen merrily rehashes her husband's drunken antics. Butcher Beynon teases his wife during breakfast. Captain Cat watches as Willy Nilly the postman goes about his morning rounds, delivering to Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard, Mrs. Pugh, Mog Edwards and Mr. Waldo.

At Mrs. Organ-Morgan's general shop, women gossip about the townspeople, Willy Nilly and his wife steam open a love letter from Mog Edwards to Myfanwy Price; he expresses his fear that they may be in the poor house if his business does not improve. Mrs. Dai Bread Two swindles Mrs. Dai Bread One with a bogus fortune in her crystal ball. Polly Garter scrubs the floors and sings about her past paramours. Gossamer Beynon and Sinbad Sailors privately desire each other.

During dinner, Mr. Pugh imagines poisoning Mrs. Pugh. Mrs. Organ-Morgan shares the day's gossip with her husband, but his only interest is the organ. Captain Cat dreams of his lost lover, Rosie Probert, but weeps as he remembers that she will not be with him again. Nogood Boyo fishes in the bay, dreaming of Mrs. Dai Bread Two and geishas.

On Llareggub Hill, Mae Rose Cottage spends a lazy afternoon wishing for love. Reverend Jenkins works on the White Book of Llareggub, which is a history of the entire town and its citizens. On the farm, Utah Watkins struggles with his cattle, aided by Bessie Bighead. As Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard falls asleep, her husbands return to her. Mae Rose Cottage swears that she will sin until she explodes.

The Cast in order of appearance

Production Team

Our sincere thanks to Normal Wythenshawe for transporting the seating, Jed Coates for transporting the set and furniture, Mike Finnigan, Alan Docker, Martin Lamb and Kevin Atkin for the construction of the set.