Birmingham’s Crescent Theatre’s upcoming production of Under Milk Wood, which opens on June 14th, proves that you can take a “play for voices” and produce a high-energy, vibrant and wonderfully theatrical experience that works brilliantly for a 2025 audience.
A favourite with audiences around the world for 70 years, Under Milk Wood charts 24 hours in the small Welsh village of Llareggub where its inhabitants, nearly all of them truly eccentric, have their secrets and desires. We’ll meet more than 60 characters, portrayed by 12 actors, ranging from Blind Captain Cat and Organ Morgan to Lily Smalls and Butcher Bunyon. Polly Garter scrubs floors as she sings of her past romantic encounters while Gwennie tells the boys to “kiss her where she says or give me a penny!”
This is the poetic truth of life in a small Welsh village, as portrayed by Thomas in a work that was originally written as a radio drama before later being adapted for the stage.
As director Liz Plumpton explains: “There is an exciting freedom about deciding how to stage Under Milk Wood in the Crescent Studio. My vision is of a truly ensemble piece where the whole cast, on stage throughout, are engaged in telling the story of those 24 hours in Llareggub. It’s a place full of very quirky and unusual people. As a company we’re deciding on the conventions of the staging as we go and making choices about how much, or little, we should do to conjure into being on the stage the people, places, sights and sounds of the village. We’re also embracing the play’s origins in radio by using only live sound effects and music on stage, all of which will be created by the cast.”
Described as “Too English for the Welsh and too Welsh for the English”, Dylan Thomas was a modernist poet, though he remained a romantic at heart. Working for the BBC just after the Second World War, he became “in every sense a celebrity”.
But he was a heavy drinker and that was always too much of a problem for him to be offered a staff job at the Corporation. It didn’t however undermine his talent as a brilliant wordsmith with an amazing imagination and powers of observation, and all those attributes are there for all to see in Under Milk Wood – as are his wit and the ability to surprise an audience. He switches seamlessly from beautifully lyrical poetry to innuendo-laden bawdiness and everything in between.
Liz Plumpton continues: “There’s a lot of comedy in the piece. There are also sadness and wistfulness or longing. Much of its appeal is the beauty and the magic that you can find in ordinary lives in quite an ordinary place. But, above all, Dylan Thomas was an incredible poet and there’s superb richness and lyricism in the way that he writes the piece.
Under Milk Wood was a creation that Thomas had worked on for much of his lifetime, probably for some 25 years, and it premièred in New York in 1953. Remaining highly popular ever since, it has stood the test of time, not just because of its beautiful language, terrific characterisations and humour, but because of its timelessness. There are, for example, themes to which a 2025 audience will instantly relate, from polyamory to casual sex and relationships conducted exclusively by correspondence: social media dating 1950s style!
The Crescent’s inventive production will bring out all the strengths of the piece, especially the outstanding writing but, above all, will provide a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining theatre experience; fast-paced fascinating fun.
Tickets are available now from the Crescent Theatre Box Office on 0121 643 5858 or at www.crescent-theatre.co.uk
Listing
Venue: 20 Sheepcote Street, Brindleyplace, Birmingham B16 8AE
Dates: Sat 14th June to Sat 21st June
Times: 7:45pm (excluding Sun 15th, Mon 16th, Thu 19th)
2.45pm matinees (Sat 14th, Sun 15th, Sat 21st)
Tickets: From £10.00
Offers: Child and School Group discounts available