Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Ifan Huw Dafydd, Hedydd Dylan, Richard Elfyn, Sara Harris-Davies, Sophie Melville, Steven Meo, Caryl Morgan, Simon Nehan, Kai Owen, Christian Patterson, Owen Teale.
Listen…the applause at the end of the performance says it all. Dylan Thomas’ seminal classic Under Milk Wood has the power to catch the attention of anybody willing to open their ears and truly pay attention for a couple of hours.
In the 60th year since Under Milk Wood was first recorded, and quite fittingly the 100th anniversary of Dylan Thomas’ birth, the poem, the play for voices gets the type attention that has been reserved for the likes of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, any number of Noel Coward works or perhaps more up to date, the work of Alan Ayckbourn. With very few British poets of the time, save arguably W.H. Auden or Ted Hughes, being as readily familiar as Dylan Thomas; in this production the creativity and direction of Terry Hands, Designer Martyn Bainbridge and Clwyd Theatre Cymru all melded together to give a stunning visualisation and interpretation of the Welshman’s work.
The set, startlingly simple and yet utterly brilliant in its effectiveness, was soon filled by the residents of Llareggub, The Narrator ready to show a slice of time passing in a single descriptive day. With every member of that village on offer to the audience, this was a performance not done on half measures, the events were as described and the sun slowly crept round the clock.
From Kai Owen’s wonderful portrayal as Dai Bread, Evans the Death and Cherry Owens, Hedydd Dylan as Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard and Polly Garter and Simon Nehan’s compelling Mr Ogmore, Butcher Beynon and Reverend Eli Jenkins, this was just one of those nights in which everything else in the world could stop and take in the futility of natural existence, of the day that never really means anything at all but is so full of wonder.
This production of Under Milk Wood rivals the Richard Burton audio dramatisation in every possible sense. The gravitas of Owen Teale as The Narrator equals, which is no small feat, that of Richard Burton delivering the words in what was essentially the archetypal role. Each member of the cast was a dream to watch, more importantly to listen to and which had the audience laughing, crying and musing over in equal quantity. For anybody making their way to the Playhouse Theatre to see this production, not only are you in for a true unashamed treat but you might come away knowing that Under Milk Wood is arguably the greatest work in the English Language of the 20th Century and a wonderful gift to the world.
A masterpiece in every respect!
Ian D. Hall