Review: Thomas’ ‘play for voices’ is soothing, evocative and funny

It has been a long-held desire of Loft director Tim Willis’ to stage Dylan Thomas’ much-admired ‘play for voices’ Under Milk Wood at the theatre in Leamington. How appropriate, then, that he managed to do it in the year the nation celebrates the centenary of the Welsh poet’s birth.

Having heard much about the work, but never actually read, listened to or seen it, I was pleased to be able to approach it with a fresh pair of eyes and - perhaps, more importantly, ears. From curtain up, it immediately becomes obvious why Thomas described his work as a ‘play for voices’. Every sentence is laden with lyrical and poetic sound which is beautiful and soothing to listen to - and each personality is described through the evocative sounds created by this extremely gifted writer.

There is no actual story or plot; rather, we are introduced, in an often surreal manner, to the characters of the ficticious Welsh fishing village of Llareggub - some of them being ghosts, most of them eccentric in their own way.

Each character comes across as the individual they are and, despite their eccentricities and oddities, we can identify at least a little bit with every one of them. And there is much comedy: Thomas’ descriptions bring the poetry firmly down to earth at every twist and turn by using comedy (sometimes rather lewd).

The staging, music and costumes are excellently done and set the scene beautifully. And all actors brings the characters to life extremely well. I really enjoyed listening to narrators Jeremy Heynes and Sue Moore tell the tale in their warm and animated fashion.

But the lack of story and action did cause me to struggle a little to remain engaged throughout. Perhaps I would be able to focus more if I listened to the play on the radio. All-in-all though, a very pleasurable evening’s entertainment.

Sundari Cleal