Under Milk Wood

Under Milk Wood is an unconventional radio play, having no plot but a series of observations on life experienced by the inhabitants of Llareggub, over the course of 24 hours. In this production the play was set in a radio studio complete with its ‘live’ audience, musicians and of course the voice artists that tumbled off the stage and in to the auditorium to make this a surround sound experience.

After the ‘On Air’ lights had been activated the scene was set by our first voice:

‘To begin at the beginning: It is a spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobble streets silent and the hunched, courters-and-rabbits wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboatbobbing sea’

Captain Cat was our first inhabitant of Llareggub complete with his very impressive beard. There were some lovely characterisations with the 13 cast members taking on a majority of the 69 roles required. The performers were dressed in black with just the addition of a token hat, shawl or prop helping to guide the audience through the myriad of settings and characters.

Characters that stood out in this production were Myfanwy Price, floating effortlessly in and out of scenes dreaming of Mog Edwards, Mr Ogmore and Mr Pritchard the deceased husbands who provided some lovely comedic moments and the Rev.Eli Jenkins, reverend and poet whose facial expressions and mannerisms were a lovely addition to the role.

Sound played an important role in this production and worked well to create the atmosphere, everything from seagulls, farm yard animals to church bells. Mr Willy Nilly the postman climbed on to a tray of gravel as we heard him walk up the gravel paths to deliver the steamed open post and was a clever edition to the sound effects. All voices were clear but accents did waver for some characters.

Lighting was appropriate but against the dark black curtains and costumes got lost a little in the overall effect of seeing the day transition from night to day and back again.

It was good to see that a large proportion of the script had been learnt which gave the performers the ability to add expression and tone. Some sections of the script were read and I felt that there was a good balance that kept reminding the audience that this was a radio play.

There was good use of musical interludes to change settings and some lovely rounds and harmonies being sung which all added to the atmosphere being created.

I did find the constant moving of the two chairs on stage distracting and personally felt these could have been set and worked around during the larger scenes to allow a better flow for the story.

The lyrical, descriptive and poetic language of Dylan Thomas brought to life on stage made this an easygoing production, that gently guided its audience through a ‘day in the life’ by creating a series of pictures and glimpsed moments.

Well done to everyone on and off stage for an interesting evening, seeing a radio play in action and my visit to Llareggub.

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