I had first come across this play when I was at school and at first I didn't fully understand what it was about until my mother explained some of its content to me .The film version with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton I hadn't liked but later came across an animated version which I can't find to add a link to it as yet but he animated version I had much preferred .
I had noticed that the play was on at Theatre Clwyd and wanted to go and see a dramatic version which I hadn't come across before. On entering the theatre, I noticed that there was hung on a wall, a great piece of artwork which set the scene for me. This can be seen on one of the images I have included of the cast on stage. It looked exactly how I had visualised the fishing village of LLareggub to be with its harbour .It was also lit up for a night time effect and this I thought was great as it gave the set more atmosphere.
I hadn't released who the cast in the play were and to my great surprise, I became aware of myself staring star struck being in close proximity to some actors that I had only seen on TV. These actors were Owen Teal who, although he has acted in many things, I had only seen him in "Belonging", Huw Dafydd who also has acted in " Belonging" and "Con Passionate" and finally, Steven Meo who I had wanted to see for a while as he is a favourite of mine and has always made me laugh at the characters he has played. Steven seems to me to be a likable cheeky chappy, who has acted in "High Hopes", "Belonging", "Gavin and Stacey" and "The Baker Boys".
Owen Teal as Dai in "Stella"
Steven Meo
Huw Dafydd as Nessa's father in "Gavin and Stacey"
The Cast were excellent in every way and many played multiple characters. There was a great atmosphere between each cast member. From the start I felt that was taken on a journey from start to finish. There were the sounds from the street that Captain Cat could hear which I felt made me connect more to the fact of him being a blind person. I also liked the way that the characters came across with their different voices. This for me made it easier to visualise the differing, multiple characters that each actor played.
The cast acting the part of boys queueing up to" pay Gwenny a penny for a kiss"
Ifan Huw Dafydd and another cast member, Sara Harris Davies
Dylan Thomas
The production marks the centenary of Thomas' birth in 1914 and also the 60th anniversary of the play's British premiere. Its sad to think that Thomas didn't get to hear its celebrated broadcast in 1954 with Richard Burton in the lead role, as Thomas had died two months before at the young age of 39 . Although the play covers a 24 hour period of the village LLareggub( which in actual fact spells buggerall backwards), "Under Milk Wood" in actual fact took six years to write and the last draft was only completed a month before his death.
For more about Theater Clwyd see below
http://www.clwyd-theatr-cymru.co.uk/en/whats_on/event/15881
Images Taken from Various websites
links to Under Milk wood
links to Under Milk wood
Full film link below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UtHPT3QRts
Read by Dylan Thomas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUgF-i9l4xg
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