Gozo commemorates Dylan Thomas’s centenary with ‘Under Milk Wood’

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Gozo commemorates Dylan Thomas's centenary with 'Under Milk Wood'The Gozo Live production of ‘Under Milk Wood’ opens in Victoria next weekend. This year marks the centenary of the birth of Welsh poet and playwright, Dylan Thomas.

To commemorate this, his great play ‘Under Milk Wood’ is being produced in venues all over the world. Gozo will also mark this centenary, with the Gozo Live production next Friday and Saturday, the 1st and 2nd of August at the Amphitheatre in the Villa Rundle Gardens, Victoria, starting at 8.00pm.

It took Dylan Thomas all of 20 years to finish writing ‘Under Milk Wood.’ When he finally finished it he wrote to his wife, Caitlin, “I’ve finished that infernally, eternally unfinished play and have done it in New York with actors.”

The play tells of a day in spring in a small Welsh village. It opens at night, when the citizens are asleep. The narrator informs the audience that they are witnessing the townspeople’s dreams.

Captain Cat, the blind sea captain, is tormented in his dreams by his drowned shipmates, who long to live again and enjoy the pleasures of the world. Mog Edwards and Myfanwy Price dream of each other; Mr. Waldo dreams of his childhood and his failed marriages; Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard dreams of her deceased husbands.

Almost all of the characters in the play are introduced as the audience witnesses a moment of their dreams.

Then it is morning and the townspeople awaken. The Reverend Eli Jenkins delivers a morning sermon on his love for the village. The audience will then witness several cameos of village life filled with gossip, pathos and humour.

For instance during dinner, Mr. Pugh imagines poisoning Mrs. Pugh. Mrs. Organ-Morgan shares the day’s gossip with her husband, but his only interest is the organ.

The audience sees a glimpse of Lord Cut-Glass’s insanity in his “kitchen full of time.” Captain Cat dreams of his lost lover, Rosie Probert, but weeps as he remembers that she will not be with him again. Mae Rose Cottage swears that she will sin until she explodes.

As night falls the Rev Eli Jenkins recites another poem and the town settles down for the night. Many gather in the pub and Mr Waldo sings drunkenly egged on by the rest of the village. Eventually all the people retire to sleep – a full day has passed.

The play is being directed by Rob Ricards, who is well know for his work on Gozo, and the cast includes expats and Gozitans. There is no entrance charge.

Don’t miss the opportunity to see this comic masterpiece by Dylan Thomas of a typical day in the life of the inhabitants of a small Welsh village.

Photograph: Rehearsals for the upcoming performance of ‘Under Milk Wood’ at the Villa Rundle Gardens.

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