Under Milk Wood - Dylan Thomas

'Under milk Wood' is an extremely unusual play for voices. The play doesn't detail sets and stage directions, instead the first and second voices are used to move from different places and different times, an example of this is when the first voice says 'Captain Cat, at his window thrown wide to the sun, this enables the audience to visualise the setting and what is happening. 'Under Milk Wood' was designed as a radio piece, so the first and second voices are needed to make the play understandable. Instead of being spread over a long period of time like most modern dramas, 'Under Milk Wood' deals with one day in the life of a welsh seaside village, which makes it ...  Read the complete review

It may sound sad to some but I have been a fan of Dylan Thomas for many years, in fact I can clearly remember borrowing books from the local library that were filled with his creative writing at the tender age of fifteen. He was born on 27th October 1914 in Swansea, the first born child of David and Florence Thomas. David Thomas himself gained a First Class degree at the University of Aberystwyth and Florence was an accomplished seamstress. Dylan's quiet yet strong willed father was very much in love with the idea of becoming a poet himself but circumstances meant that he had to take a post as an English teacher at Swansea Grammar school, after all ...  Read the complete review

'We are not Wholly bad or good, Who live our lives under Milk Wood, And thou, I know, wilt be the first To see our best side, not our worst.' Genre: A play for Voices: wonderful for radio. Author: Dylan Thomas Publisher: Aldine Papaerbacks, J.M. Dent & Sons LTD Year it was published: first published in 1954 Plot Summary: This work is based around the Fictional Welsh sea town; Llaregub (rumoured to be named this as it is 'bugger all' backwards), which contains a variety of eccentric and wildly mad inhabitants. Guided by the words and insight of two strangers ...  Read the complete review

I wonder if "Under Milk Wood" isn't simply the best piece of literature to have been specifically written for the radio? I don't know, but that's my opinion anyway! "Under Milk Wood" is a play for voices. It is funny, it is touching without being cheaply sentimental, it is fantastically vivid. It describes a single day in the life of a Welsh fishing village 50 years ago. As a play for voices, it is perhaps not a coincidence that its principle character (after the two narrators) is blind - Captain Cat. The play takes you into the dreams and deepest secrets of all the characters of the town. It makes you laugh both at the ...  Read the complete review

Written by Dylan Thomas, Undermilk Wood is a classic book. The story of a day and a night in the lives of some of the inhabitants of Llareggub (read it backwards), somewhere in Wales. You do not need to be Welsh to appreciate the humour. Undermilk Wood was written as a play for voices and, if you buy the cd, you will be delighted with the narration of Anthony Hopkins, music by Mark Knopfler, the voices (singing and spoken) of Bonnie Tyler, Tom Jones, Sir Geraint Evans, Windsor Davies, Harry Secombe and anyone and everyone who is anybody that is Welsh. Thomas plays with words in a wonderful, colourful way. His characters are ...  Read the complete review