Under Milk Wood - Performances

Performances

The play had its first reading on stage on 14 May 1953, in New York, at The Poetry Center. Thomas himself read the parts of the First Voice and the Reverend Eli Jenkins. Almost as an afterthought, the performance was recorded on a single-microphone tape recording (the microphone was laid at front center on the stage floor) and later issued by the Caedmon company. It is the only known recorded performance of Under Milk Wood with Thomas as a part of the cast. A studio recording, planned for 1954, was precluded by Thomas's death in November 1953.

The BBC first broadcast Under Milk Wood, a new 'Play for Voices', on the Third Programme on 25 January 1954 (two months after Dylan's death), although several sections were omitted. The play was recorded with a distinguished, all-Welsh cast including Richard Burton as 'First Voice', with production by Douglas Cleverdon. A repeat was broadcast two days later. Daniel Jones, the Welsh composer who was a lifelong friend of Thomas's (and his literary trustee), wrote the music; this was recorded separately, on 15 and 16 January, at Laugharne School. The play won the Prix Italia award for radio drama that year.

In 1963, the original radio producer, Douglas Cleverdon, revisited the project and recorded the complete play, which was broadcast on 11 October 1963.

The 1972 film adaptation, with Richard Burton reprising his role, also featured Elizabeth Taylor, Peter O'Toole, Glynis Johns, Vivien Merchant, and other well-known actors, and Ryan Davies as the 'Second Voice'. The movie was filmed on location in Fishguard, Pembrokeshire and at Lee International Film Studios, London.

In 1988, George Martin produced an album version, featuring more of the dialogue being sung, with music by Martin and Elton John, among others; Anthony Hopkins played the part of 'First Voice'. This was subsequently done as a one-off stage performance (as An Evening with Dylan Thomas), for The Prince's Trust and in the presence of HRH Prince Charles, to commemorate the opening in December 1992 of the new AIR Studios at Lyndhurst Hall. It was again produced by Martin and directed by Hopkins, who once again played 'First Voice'. Other roles were played by Harry Secombe, Freddie Jones, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Siân Phillips, Jonathan Pryce, Alan Bennett and, specially for the occasion, singer Tom Jones. The performance was recorded for television (directed by Declan Lowney) but has never been shown.

In 1997, Australian pianist and composer Tony Gould's adaptation of Under Milk Wood (written for narrator and chamber orchestra) was first performed by actor John Stanton and the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra.

In November 2003, as part of their commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of Thomas's death, the BBC broadcast a new production of the play, imaginatively combining new actors with the original 1954 recording of Richard Burton playing 'First Voice'. (Broadcast 15 November 2003, BBC Radio 4; repeated 24 December 2004.) Digital noise reduction technology allowed Burton's part to be incorporated unobtrusively into the new recording, which was intended to represent Welsh voices more realistically than the original.

In 2006, Austrian composer Akos Banlaky composed an opera with the libretto based on the German translation by Erich Fried (Unter dem Milchwald, performed at Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck, Austria).

In October 2008, Brightspark Productions released a 50 minute DVD animation version, using an earlier BBC soundtrack with Richard Burton as narrator. This was commissioned by S4C (a Welsh language public service broadcaster). Music was composed specially by Trevor Herbert, and performed by Treordy Male Voice Choir and the Welsh Brass Consort. Producer Robert Lyons. Director, Les Orton. It was made by Siriol Productions in association with Onward Productions and BBC Pebble Mill. DVD ref: 5 037899 005798.

In 2008, a ballet version of Under Milk Wood by Independent Ballet Wales toured the UK. It was choreographed by Darius James with music by British composer Thomas Hewitt Jones. A suite including music from the ballet was recorded by Court Lane Music in 2009.

In 2009 and 2010, a translation in Dutch by the Belgian writer Hugo Claus was performed on stage by Jan Decleir and Koen De Sutter on a theatre tour in Belgium and the Netherlands (e.g. the Zeeland Late-Summer Festival, the Vooruit in Ghent, etc.).

In 2010 a one-woman production of the text was performed at the Sidetrack Theatre in Sydney, Australia, presented by Bambina Borracha Productions and directed by Vanessa Hughes. Actress Zoe Norton Lodge performed all 64 characters in the play

In July 2011, Progress Youth Theatre (Reading, Berkshire, UK) performed a stage adaptation of the radio script. All visual aspects, such as stage directions, costume, set and lighting design were therefore devised entirely by the youth theatre. The voice parts were shared equally between seven actors, with other actors playing multiple 'named' parts (with the exception of Captain Cat, who remained on stage throughout the production).

The BBC Formula 1 introduction to the 2011 Singapore Grand Prix features extracts of the audio for their opening VT.

In 2012 the Sydney Theatre Company staged a production staring Jack Thompson as First Voice and Sandy Gore as Second Voice, with a cast including Bruce Spence, Paula Arundell, Drew Forsythe, Alan John, and Helen Thomson. The production was staged in the Drama Theatre of the Sydney Opera House.

In 2012, Australian pianist and composer Tony Gould's adaptation of Under Milk Wood (written for narrator and chamber orchestra) was again performed by actor John Stanton as part of the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School's, VCASS inaugural performance at the Melbourne Recital Centre. Tony Gould played piano and worked with the students as a musical mentor.

As the requirements for costumes, sets, and the like are minimal, it is a favorite of college and community groups.