Customer Reviews

Under Milk Wood (Argo)

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I was first attracted to Dylan Thomas after studying James Joyce's The Dubliners at high school. I must say that in my opinion Thomas's play/poem makes a surprisingly good film, which is sadly not available thrugh Amazon.com, but to say this play for voices is delightful would be misleading, as this deep study of the underbelly of a small fishing village is about a peculiar kind of nationalism that is both celebratory and critical.

What makes it such a great experience is how the language grabs you, and you have to listen to every word, so it is intense. The narrator begins his description of the sleeping town of Llareggub from Milk Wood, above the town, then enters the cobbled streets to observe and eavesdrop, over a twenty-four hour period, dipping into the thoughts, reminiscences and dreams of the townsfolk.

Since Dylan Thomas died in 1953, and this was one of his last works, the world he describes is fifty years old and seems somewhat quaint today. But his rich language on occasions soars with the romance of feeling for the beauty of his nativeland (the vicar's morning address to the town, with nobody listening, is just wonderful), and love of its people.

Nevertheless, in relating the sexual dreams and fantasies and activities of the town and the world of men and women a touch of gothic intrudes. There are oppositions at play between the open-hearted, sexually generous women and the close-minded wives, the ecstatic Organ Morgan the church organist and his petty shopkeeper wife ("a martyr to music"), the mischievious butcher's subversions, numerous attractions and solicitations between adults and the budding sexuality of the young, the stultified love of Sinbad the barman, and an unscrupulous postman and his nosey-parker wife.And many other endearing characters.

The portrait Thomas paints of the town under Milk Wood is tainted by his own world-view, resentful of the Church, the lack of ambition and other provincialities. There's an amazing amount of activity in the town, apart from its economy, lots of drinking, sexuality and folksong, but despite the evidence of bad-blood the community seems to thrive on love and an underlying generosity of heart that allows for the bounty that all life brings.

These days I'm not a great lover of poetry, and that's what this play for voices is, but Under Milk Wood still works for me.

On November 7th, Dylan Thomas collapsed in his hotel room. On the 9th, he died. This was only a few days after the final performance of "Under Milk Wood", a special play with no acting but voices, the sort of work Thomas believed would replace the poetic impulse he feared had dried up. Although believed by many to be unfinished, "Under Milk Wood" seems perfect as it is. A journey through the events of a single day in a small town, "Under Milk Wood" is a must for Dylan Thomas fans, but also would be appreciated by fans of Garrison Keillor and other radio-storytellers. The written text cannot compare with the lively, laughter-ridden performance. Listen to the real thing, and you will, as Dylan Thomas instructed his actors, "love the words."

One full day, from night to night, in a Welsh village, town and harbour. All Dylan Thomas's art is there everywhere everpresent in those few odd but packed pages. Unforgettable oxymorons : « night's first darkening snow ». Unforseeable metaphors : « his dream buckets down ». Unpredictable similes : « her ears fall off like figs ». A permanent joy, even in the most squalid situations : « and quick as a flash he [Mr Pugh] ducks her [Mrs Pugh] in rat soup ». The permanent music of the language and of innumerable songs : « We are a musical nation ». The simple and healthy desires of man for woman and especially of woman for man : « Tom who is two yards long, Dick who is three feet thick, Harry who is as sweet as a cherry, the good bad boys from the lonely farms, Willy Wee who is six feet deep, and Mr Waldo in Pembroke City, the chimbley sweep, till a kind young woman took pity, come and sweep my chimbley ». Everywhere we are at sea and in the hills enjoying life and its misfits, misdeeds, and misadventures from wave to wood, from beach to bloom and broom, « Let me shipwreck in your thighs ». « Off to Gomorrah » as Jack Black says, « all black like the Ace of Spades ». Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.

Written as a "play for voices" for the BBC, this work was originally performed in 1954, with Richard Burton as the First Voice, connecting all thirty-three characters--men, women, and small children. Depicting one full day in the life of a small town in Wales, Thomas shows its motley residents as they awaken, perform their daily tasks, socialize and gossip, and daydream about the past that might have been and the future that may yet offer hope. As is always the case with Thomas, the "play" is full of alliteration and various kinds of rhyme, with nouns and adjectives used as verbs to convey action and sense impressions simultaneously. A wry humor and honesty of feeling make the work engaging for the listener/reader and charmingly illustrative of a time and place now gone.

Individual characters come alive through their own voices and through the gossip of others, spread by the postman and by neighbors. When night falls and the residents retire, their additional losses and disappointments, along with their escapes into dreams, are given voice and poignancy. Polly Garter, with her numerous children by numerous fathers, dreams of Willie Weasel, a very small man who was the love of her life. Captain Cat, the blind bell-ringer, thinks of all the sailors he knew who died at sea and Mr. Pugh dreams of poisoning his wife.

Simple songs add to the realism and the sense of character and place. An elegiac song by Polly Garter, as she remembers Willie and compares him to her other lovers, conveys an almost palpable sadness and makes Polly one of the most memorable characters. A humorous singing game by children adds to the realism, and young Gwenny's song to three very young boys is full of cheeky humor. Filled with the hurly-burly of everyday life in a small town in 1950s Wales, this and A Child's Christmas in Wales are among Thomas's most beloved works. Mary Whipple

This is probably the greatest play ever written for RADIO! It's a medium rarely thought of for such things today, and theater people repeatedly come a cropper in trying to put it on the stage. I've seen several stage productions and one TV version, and the piece simply does not work that way. Dylan Thomas takes the LISTENER inside the characters' dreams and thoughts. Once they are concretized or thingified on a stage or screen, they are destroyed. Don't read it. Close your eyes and LISTEN. It's magnificent - funny, sweet, moving.

I saw this play at the UW Drama School this spring, and it was by far the best play I'd seen all year -- so I ran right out and bought the hard copy to read. Could not put it down: and I just loved being swept away in the rhythmic current of Thomas' playful, wonderful river of speech. Satire and songs, cruelty and flirtation, dreams and ghosts, stirring eroticism and sweetness fertilize the highly alliterative and sensual text. The whole delightful, unforgettable short play makes a small Welsh fishing village seem like a living organism, where even the ground shifts and swells with the unspoken will of the long-dead and the presence of sea-captains now only legends. Get it on tape, if at all possible!

I first heard this recording over 30 years ago while an undergraduate student. I was stunned. It is the full theatrical experience on tape -- Dylan Thomas wrote the play for voices alone, and this recording was made with the actors simply sitting on folding chairs while delivering the lines. You can note some similarities with both Spoon River Anthology and Our Town, but Under Milk Wood contains more humor and really a more complete picture of the people and the subject town than either of those. I strongly recommend it.

Dylan Thomas tells the tales(which are like dreams)about the small town of MILKWOOD. He portrays the lives of the many citizens, such as Organ Morgan and his obsession with Bach, and Polly Garter, with her depressing love songs. It is truly a crazy town, and Thomas makes you laugh again and again

Dylan Thomas completed this play in 1953, a few days before his death. For this reason, some critics contend the play is "incomplete," an issue that will never be resolved. It is subtitled a "Play for Voices"; thus, it is a "reading," without accompanying action from the actors. Like Joyce's Ulyssesthe entire play covers only one day. Ulysses is set in Ireland; Thomas's play is set in a coastal fishing village in Wales, named Llareggub, which is literally located below another village called Milkwood, hence the title. Thanks to another reviewer, I learned that Llareggub spelled backwards is "Bugg*r All."

The play starts with the characters still asleep or just awaking. Along with Polly Garter, Captain Cat is one of the more memorable characters. He is dreaming of his numerous companions that were lost at sea. Much of the play relates to the male-female interactions (of which there are plenty!) in this small village. Some unhappy husbands and wives, naturally; several of whom seek solace outside the strict bounds of wedlock. No surprise there. Polly dreams of the one man who has ever truly satisfied her, Willy Nilly. There is the Rev. Eli Jenkins who makes pronouncements, and is routinely ignored. The "Sailors Arms" is the village pub (and essential community center). The clock is broken at half past eleven, which is the official opening time; thus, the pub is always open.

Thomas is wonderfully lyrical; so many of the words are selected simply for their euphony, and how well they elide into the next. And there is the rub. Can one appreciate the full artistic merit simply by reading it? I think not. You really do have to HEAR it also. There is a beautiful movie production of this play, with impressive scenery from the green Welsh countryside, starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood (Special Collector's Edition) that I would highly recommend. Oddly, to me, the only other person I know who has read and watched this production thought the movie was terrible. Of course, he liked The Deer Hunter, so I guess it might simply be a case of different strokes...
The book alone, through no particular fault than it is not the intended medium, would rate 4-stars. In conjunction with, or as a prelude to the movie or a live performance, it deserves the full 5-stars.

This Dylan Thomas fellow could certainly turn a phrase. His "Under Milkwood" is a radio play that shows a day in the life of the residents of the fictional Welsh town of Llareggub (which is "bugger all" spelled backwards). While the story is of the slice-of-life variety, it is nevertheless enjoyable with its various relationship threads. For example, Mr. Pugh is constantly trying to poison his wife while she nitpicks him to death about his manners and Thomas visits upon them several times throughout the play. Thomas obviously loves wordplay and language, as evidenced by his vivid yet offbeat descriptions and the interesting names he selects for some of his characters (e.g. Mary Ann the Sailors, Captain Cat). It's like reading Shakespeare without getting bogged down in Elizabethan iambic pentameter.

I was so impressed with this that I'll probably break down and get the original radio play as performed by Richard Burton.Under Milkwood (BBC Radio Collection)