Review: Under Milk Wood (Theatr Clywd)

By Eleanor Rose Clarke

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

Stumble down from the mountains, eyes rest on this seaside town. Llareggub, where the morning natter fills the sky with intertwining stories; spoken, sealed, whispered, announced loudly for the people to hear. Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood begins performances at Theatr Clwyd, the perfect whimsical, Welsh play for this newly refurbished hillside venue. Under Milk Wood explores the fictional fishing town of Llareggub, through lyrical verse and humorous anecdotes, we come to know the townsfolk who inhabit these streets and how their lives intertwine.

Dylan Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, born in 1914. The first know draft of Under Milk Wood, originally called ‘The Town That Was Mad’, is dated to 1949. Often described as “a play for voices”, the piece began its life as a BBC radio drama in 1954, later being adapted for the stage. Thomas continued writing this piece up until his death in 1953 and the two-act play is thought to be his masterpiece. Under Milk Wood takes inspiration from many periods of Thomas’ life, from childhood letters and teenage poems, to places where he resided, with elements of Laugharne’s landscape and his neighbours in New Quay.

The piece uses an omniscient narrator, spoken through the 11 actors making up the production. We weave in and out the stories of characters, from Captain Cat, listening to the world go by and talking to the dead, to Mr and Mrs Pugh, where husband plans his wife’s demise, to Polly Garter, a woman known for her love affairs but only caught up over one, to Willy Nilly, the postman intent on knowing the contents of the letters he delivers, and that’s only to name a few!

It is difficult to grasp who is who during the first act of the play, but this works as part of its charm and is entertaining all the same. As act two plays out, it is easier to recall reoccurring characters and follow their stories closer. This play would certainly benefit from multiple viewings, with a script packed with layered language and the quickly moving story, and I don’t think this is uncommon for poet-written texts, adding to both the growing sense of intrigue and one’s capacity to get stuck into the text.

Hayley Grindle’s set and costume design is gorgeous in its whimsical style and light seaside colour palette. The set pieces begin small, revealing more as we travel into the depths of the town and its secrets. Many of the white, cotton pieces are dipped in blue, like the cast themselves have been washed up by the tide and found themselves telling this story. There are a few added pieces of colour, which help with the storytelling and differentiation between character, but the cohesive collection of costumes bind these actors together as the community of Llareggub. The set and costumes interchangeably make up the town, and it appears purposeful that there are a blurred lines between home and inhabitant, because they are one in the same here.

Every cast member gave a fantastic performance as individuals and as a combined force. My stand out performances are the singing voices of Georgia Griffiths and Mirain Fflur, who transform Thomas’ words to become even more mesmerising through song. They sing with Oliver Vibran’s composition, which accompanies this language-based piece with its folky, dreamlike sound, only deepening the atmospheric world explored in Under Milk Wood. Amy Conachan’s performance is especially dynamic and witty, her ability to switch between the four named characters and the many other townsfolk she plays, sometimes interchangeably within a matter of seconds, is nothing short of impressive.

Laura Meaton’s movement direction achieves a sense of togetherness between cast members, reflecting their individual roles as townsfolk, as well as their overall performance as the town itself. There is dancing, running, the use of levels and lifts and always an awareness of others on the stage. This play is ultimately about the town personified, defined as a character by those who make it up, its voice shared between these actors, as it ebbs and flows like the tide.

Theatr Clwyd is a part of Craidd, a collection that, with four other Welsh organisations, works alongside Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people to improve representation across the Welsh theatre industry. With stunning performances from primarily Adam Bassett, who also stands as the production’s BSL director, Chandu Gopalakrishnan and Caroline Parker, who speak the weight of Thomas’ words through their hands, the whole cast have moments using sign language and the entire performance is captioned.

The accessibility of this production reads as a celebration of inclusivity and the beauty of performance, with both language and movement as one. The captioned display of the play’s words in their rawest form allows us to not only hear the language but see the language. The production is accessible to more people than it would have been without these developments and enhances our ability to understand the beautiful prose.

Under Milk Wood is a unique piece of theatre and this production takes its often bizarre, lyrical verse, presenting it in a way that understands the constantly moving nature of its content. It takes this idea of “a play for voices”, shifting it slightly into a play for language, accessible in more than one way of communication. The cast work incredibly as one force, encapsulating the spirit of the town. This celebration of a Welsh poets work finds its place in this Welsh theatre, and the tales of Llareggub will stick with anyone who finds themselves washed upon its shore.

Under Milk Wood is playing at Theatr Clywd in Mold until the 4^th of April. Get your tickets at: https://www.theatrclwyd.com/event/under-milk-wood#dates-and-times

Photos by Richard Lakos