There’s a lot of Dylan Thomas around at the moment, this year being his centenary. Under Milk Wood is a piece of which I am particularly fond and I have seen many productions. The fact that it was written as a radio play is its strength and its weakness. The problems it poses are not insignificant. How do you present thirty-odd characters in dozens of different locations on stage? How do you portray a sleepy Welsh village and the myriad souls (some literally) who live there? As we all know, in radio drama the scenery and costumes are always excellent because we conjure them up in our imagination and that is the key to a stage production – keep it simple and conjure up Llareggub in the mind’s eye.
The current production of the play by Clwyd Theatr Cymru did this but gave us a helping hand. The main feature of the set was a giant aerial view of the village and harbour portrayed on a giant disc suspended over the stage with all the streets and houses picked out in relief with lights twinkling in the little windows at night. It worked beautifully as did the atmospheric lighting and sound effects.
The cast was excellent, each taking on three or four parts. Owen Teale was a charismatic and authoritative First Voice but at times he appeared condescending, over familiar and almost snide, which I didn’t like. I liked Christian Patterson as the Second Voice, he was a much more sympathetic character, one of the community whereas the First Voice is always an outside observer. The play presents a cast of characters which any actor would give his eye teeth to play. There is not a less than wonderful part in the whole piece and the nine actors did them proud. It would be difficult to pick out anyone in particular but I think it was Steven Meo that everyone will remember. His distinct appearance and quirky characters managed to upstage the rest of the cast at one point or another. He was very funny indeed.
But now we come to the crunch.
Yes, Mr Meo was very funny indeed but not so funny that the whole cast should, out of character, stop and laugh at him as they did halfway through the second half when he was struggling with lavatory issues. The episode appeared to have been spontaneous with everybody corpsing and Owen Teale losing his place. Well, don’t feel you missed a wonderfully inclusive, unscripted moment because it will happen again tonight, and tomorrow night and every night for the rest of the run. It was as spontaneous as Trooping the Colour.
For me this spoiled the whole evening. Under Milk Wood has an astonishing, precise rhythm to it, a strict pace almost like an orchestral symphony. This irresponsible diversion broke the rhythm and broke the spell. It was like a conjuror messing up a trick – it becomes impossible for him to regain his authority. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. It’s alright to do things like this in pantomime or perhaps even in farce but would any respectable director do it with Pinter or Samuel Becket or even Alan Aykbourn? Of course the audience love it and think they are witnessing a special, inclusive moment, unaware that they are being cynically manipulated. I hated it and for me it spoiled the whole thing which was a pity because apart from that it was absolutely brilliant and I was loving every moment. ★★★★★ up until the diversion, but then….. Michael Hasted
