Under Milk Wood
Fri, 26 Sept 2003, 02:21 pmLibby16 posts in thread
Under Milk Wood
Fri, 26 Sept 2003, 02:21 pmI had heard quite a bit about Deckchair's production of Under Milk Wood, so curiosity aroused I trotted along to see it last night.
To go into a long detailed review would spoil the surprises for everyone, but here are some brief points...
Under Milk Wood, for those unfamiliar with the play/poem, was written by Dylan Thomas originally for voices only. We are shown a day in the life of the seemingly sleepy town Llareggub, its inhabitants and their innermost thoughts.
One of the highlights for me was Renee McIntosh singing Polly Garter's song- just beautiful, especially with the acoustics in the Victoria Hall. In fact, Renee, Claire Hooper and Christina Critch did a great job juggling characters throughout (although I did wonder what the point was of having Claire stand to the side when not onstage most of the time).
Elwyn Edwards did a marvellous job as the all-knowing First Voice, the link between audience and players. The image that was created as he stood downstage with his shadow cast upon each wall was a good lighting design choice.
Yes, there is a lot of audio/visual material- in fact four of the cast we never see, just hear. Anyone who knows the play knows what a nightmare it is casting for sixty-plus characters, and as such using voiceovers is a good way of dealing with this. For the most part it works quite well, although I did find myself growing a little weary of them towards the end.
In my humble opinion, it's well worth going to have a look, as it's a very different take on a classic piece. I enjoyed it and was entertained by it, but I think I'll have to go away and think some more about it.
Sure to delight some and jar others, make the trek down and decide for yourselves, I'm interested to hear what others thought.
And remember to take a coat to wear in the chilly Victoria Hall!
deckchair theatre's Under Milk Wood. Running Tues-Sat, 20 Sept- 4 Oct. 8pm. Victoria Hall, 179 High St Fremantle. $25/$20
To go into a long detailed review would spoil the surprises for everyone, but here are some brief points...
Under Milk Wood, for those unfamiliar with the play/poem, was written by Dylan Thomas originally for voices only. We are shown a day in the life of the seemingly sleepy town Llareggub, its inhabitants and their innermost thoughts.
One of the highlights for me was Renee McIntosh singing Polly Garter's song- just beautiful, especially with the acoustics in the Victoria Hall. In fact, Renee, Claire Hooper and Christina Critch did a great job juggling characters throughout (although I did wonder what the point was of having Claire stand to the side when not onstage most of the time).
Elwyn Edwards did a marvellous job as the all-knowing First Voice, the link between audience and players. The image that was created as he stood downstage with his shadow cast upon each wall was a good lighting design choice.
Yes, there is a lot of audio/visual material- in fact four of the cast we never see, just hear. Anyone who knows the play knows what a nightmare it is casting for sixty-plus characters, and as such using voiceovers is a good way of dealing with this. For the most part it works quite well, although I did find myself growing a little weary of them towards the end.
In my humble opinion, it's well worth going to have a look, as it's a very different take on a classic piece. I enjoyed it and was entertained by it, but I think I'll have to go away and think some more about it.
Sure to delight some and jar others, make the trek down and decide for yourselves, I'm interested to hear what others thought.
And remember to take a coat to wear in the chilly Victoria Hall!
deckchair theatre's Under Milk Wood. Running Tues-Sat, 20 Sept- 4 Oct. 8pm. Victoria Hall, 179 High St Fremantle. $25/$20
Re: Under Milk Wood - Four months early!
Tue, 7 Oct 2003, 09:59 amProfessional companies are funded to cover concerns like copyright; it wouldn't normally be a concern. Copyrights are sought and approved almost automatically, and I'm sure the holder of the copyright wasn't about to tell a professional company that it was soon to expire and become public domain.
Amateur productions who often seek for copyright-free permission are more likely to be aware of these things, and in the scheme of their budgets it's a much bigger issue. Yes, perhaps money could have been saved, but walter plinge is right about seasons being planned over a year in advance, in the scheme of an entire programme it's not as devastating as you make it out to be.
Out of interest, how did you come across this info, anyway?
Cheers
Craig
[%sig%]
Amateur productions who often seek for copyright-free permission are more likely to be aware of these things, and in the scheme of their budgets it's a much bigger issue. Yes, perhaps money could have been saved, but walter plinge is right about seasons being planned over a year in advance, in the scheme of an entire programme it's not as devastating as you make it out to be.
Out of interest, how did you come across this info, anyway?
Cheers
Craig
[%sig%]
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