Under Milkwood

Play: Under Milkwood by Dylan Thomas Performed at the Regal Theatre Unfortunately I was unable to grab a program because of the train times so apologies to any who were interested in the cast and crew specifics. Booking for this show which runs until Saturday March 10 (this weekend) are here: http://www.regaltheatre.com.au/ Plot: Thomas' word are very poetic and lyrical, placing as much emphasise on sounds as he has on the words themselves and their meaning. The play follows one day and one night in the lives of the "500 souls" of Llareggub. The audience is invited into the sleeping residents dreams. They learn of love. The story is lead by the "narrators" who describe the town - becuase it is so black a night that the audience are unable to see. As the reidents awake the audience is then given insight into their lives. Glimpses of the innocent and of the guilty,of gossip "round the pump", of dreams and pasts and of hidden loves and of pormisuous souls. Mr Pugh studies poison's to rid himself of his wife. Polly Garter, who is known to many a man in the town is pregnant again. Captain Cat dreams of his past and his lost love Rosie. Mog Edwards write love letters to Myfanwy Price who never answers. Cherry Owens is drunk as usual while Nogood Boyo wants to be good but cant. Mrs Pritchard bosses aroud her two dead husbands. While Dai Bread has two wives. Rev Jenkins writes poems to welcome the day and welcome the night. Lord Cutglass - obssesed with clocks. While Willy Nilly the postman and his wife steam open others mail. REVIEW: The play is an interesting on in itself and I, personally was looking forward to seeing how it was performed. The director here, chose to use four actors narrate and portray these odd inhabitants of Llarggub. Each actor held his/her own beautifully. With minute changes such as walk, or a simple prop were used to change characters. My particular favourites were Nogood Boyo, Mr and Mrs Pugh and Mr Butcher Beynon - there had to be one darker sense of humour in the town. The set was simple and made good use of space. With the door and window to two houses, and a brick wall were used to represent the buildings. The multiple use of the table - as a table, as a bed and as a benchtop. I liked the "peeling away" of teh props and set. As time moved away so did pieces of the set and stage props. The lighting was used to measure time particularly well. Noting how the colour tones change as the day moves along and the sun peeks and then begins to descend again. Also the effects used to display Captain Cat's mind's eye - blue rippling lights gave a water like effect. I loved the song the children and Captain Cat sang. It created a bit of a laugh. The only pick I could possibly have is in the accents. The accents were used to seperate the narrator's from the characters but when the characters were there their accents weren't susinct to one another. A few slip ups were made when the performer moved from Welsh into a mix of English and Scottish?? Thats the only fault I picked. Despite that one I thoroughly enjoyed the night's entertainment and a congratulations to all involved. And Thank you. ~ Tari