Under Milk Wood

Dylan Thomas’ poetic saga of a spring day in a Welsh coastal village was written first for radio and, of course, for the lilting accents of its Welsh inhabitants. Just think of Richard Burton’s voice in the original BBC 1954 production.

STC associate director Kip Williams here artfully transposes the radio play to the Australian stage, and in fleshing out the voices drops all attempt to sound Welsh. Lead by Jack Thompson as narrator, an illustrious cast skip through some 70 briefly sketched characters, their night dreams and their daytime chores, bitterness, loves and yearning. The result is a lush and tender affirmation of community and human frailty, dominated by Thomas’ obsession with sex and death.

Williams spins fast our focus through swarming groups to individuals, creating a kaleidoscopic view of a day’s routine unfolding. Veterans like Drew Forsythe and Bruce Spence (hilarious as the two obedient ghost husbands of Sandy Gore’s tyrannical widow) are well matched to younger actors like

Cameron Goodall (ever plotting the poisoning of his own nagging wife – Helen Thomson). Composer Alan John enriches the rhythms with judiciously added songs, including a soulful ditty to lost love from the town’s loose woman (Paula Arundell).

This is joyous heartfelt theatre which tugs at your humanity and – whether set in a Welsh village or beyond – still remains true to Thomas’ one directorial advice: “love the words”.

Martin Portus

Image: Paula Arundell, Cameron Goodall, Helen Thomson, Sandy Gore and Bruce Spence in Under Milk Wood. Photographer: Heidrun Löhr.