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, 12:11 pmWalter Plinge
crgwllms wrote:
> Professional 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.
Which is something a lot of companies in Australia should be made aware of. We have different copyright laws here than they do in the States and Europe. I just wonder how many companies have applied for Rights from the US or the UK when they didnÂ’t need to, especially as its not up to a company in another country to be familiar with our own unique copyright laws.
> 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.
I didn’t think it was a disaster, I just thought it was stoopid! If they did it knowing that they had to do it now, well then that’s their decision and good luck to ‘em. However, if they didn’t even realise…
ItÂ’s just Arts companies are always (legitimately) crying poor, and this was one example that jumped at me of poor admin / no research, costing a company a couple of thousand that could have been better spent elsewhere.
As to Amateurs seeking copyright free works. There are really only a few of us out there doing it deliberately. But you will often see companies doing something like the New York Shakespeare Festival version of “Pirates of Penzance” [Music – Free; Lyrics – Free; Book – Free; MUSICAL ARRANGEMENT – NOT FREE!!!] when they could just do the original and jazz it up themselves…
> Out of interest, how did you come across this info, anyway?
How did I come across what info?
That “Under Milkwood” comes out of copyright next year?
ThatÂ’s simple, check the Australian Copyright CouncilÂ’s Website and theyÂ’ll give you a good run down of what constitutes Public Domain in this country.
Dylan Thomas (and for that matter Eugene OÂ’Neill) died in 1953.
Under Australian Copyright law all his dramatic works that were published or performed before his death are covered by copyright until 31 December 2003.
Ergo, on 1 January 2004 “Under Milkwood” (and for that matter “Mourning Becomes Electra”) enters the Public Domain.
Was reminded of, and checked up on this, after our production of “Streetcar” was scuttled. We decided to do “The Philadelphia Story” instead, and were half way through applying for the rights when I discovered the author died in 1949, so therefore we did not need to get the rights after all. We can do what the hell we want with it.
Just bear in mind that different countries have different copyright laws.
So, for example: If I decided to make a film of Shaw’s “Major Barbara”, no one could stop me shooting it, showing it, or whatever, here in Australia. However, it would not be able to be shown in the UK without the approval of Shaw’s estate for another 15-20 years.
Public Domain is my current bugbear, so you may hear me rabbiting about it for a whileÂ…
Paul Treasure
> Professional 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.
Which is something a lot of companies in Australia should be made aware of. We have different copyright laws here than they do in the States and Europe. I just wonder how many companies have applied for Rights from the US or the UK when they didnÂ’t need to, especially as its not up to a company in another country to be familiar with our own unique copyright laws.
> 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.
I didn’t think it was a disaster, I just thought it was stoopid! If they did it knowing that they had to do it now, well then that’s their decision and good luck to ‘em. However, if they didn’t even realise…
ItÂ’s just Arts companies are always (legitimately) crying poor, and this was one example that jumped at me of poor admin / no research, costing a company a couple of thousand that could have been better spent elsewhere.
As to Amateurs seeking copyright free works. There are really only a few of us out there doing it deliberately. But you will often see companies doing something like the New York Shakespeare Festival version of “Pirates of Penzance” [Music – Free; Lyrics – Free; Book – Free; MUSICAL ARRANGEMENT – NOT FREE!!!] when they could just do the original and jazz it up themselves…
> Out of interest, how did you come across this info, anyway?
How did I come across what info?
That “Under Milkwood” comes out of copyright next year?
ThatÂ’s simple, check the Australian Copyright CouncilÂ’s Website and theyÂ’ll give you a good run down of what constitutes Public Domain in this country.
Dylan Thomas (and for that matter Eugene OÂ’Neill) died in 1953.
Under Australian Copyright law all his dramatic works that were published or performed before his death are covered by copyright until 31 December 2003.
Ergo, on 1 January 2004 “Under Milkwood” (and for that matter “Mourning Becomes Electra”) enters the Public Domain.
Was reminded of, and checked up on this, after our production of “Streetcar” was scuttled. We decided to do “The Philadelphia Story” instead, and were half way through applying for the rights when I discovered the author died in 1949, so therefore we did not need to get the rights after all. We can do what the hell we want with it.
Just bear in mind that different countries have different copyright laws.
So, for example: If I decided to make a film of Shaw’s “Major Barbara”, no one could stop me shooting it, showing it, or whatever, here in Australia. However, it would not be able to be shown in the UK without the approval of Shaw’s estate for another 15-20 years.
Public Domain is my current bugbear, so you may hear me rabbiting about it for a whileÂ…
Paul Treasure
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