The Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead

Under Milk Wood; a play for Voices
A dramatised reading of the Dylan Thomas masterpiece

Two performances by the Hampstead Players:

7.30pm Friday 10th February and
6.30pm Saturday 11th February 2012       

in Hampstead Parish Church

The Play       
Described by The Times as `probably the most enchanting work for broadcasting ever written`, the play was commissioned and transmitted by the BBC in 1954.  Dylan Thomas had died the previous year.  Under Milk Wood tells an impressionistic story of one day in the life of the fictional (and anadromic) Welsh fishing town of Llareggub, with its scores of characters, ranging from the slyly conventional to the boldly picaresque. Based, it is thought, on the little town of Ceinewydd in Ceredigion, it is a brilliant piece of sound-painting, written not quite in poetry but more in what Thomas himself described as `prose with blood-pressure`.

The Production
Though it has been made into a film and produced many times on the stage (including by the Hampstead Players in 1981), it is essentially an aural experience, and there have been some famous broadcasts and recordings of it.  We offer a `live-broadcast` style reading, in front of our audience. Some discreet effects will help set the scene, but in the end Thomas`s expressive words perfectly evoke the sights and smells as well as the sounds of Llareggub, and need only our audibility, clarity and energy – and your presence and, we hope, pleasure.