Under Milk Wood

(STC)

(Sydney Theatre Company)

I'm a Philistine. I prefer plays that use prose language rather than poetry, blank verse or the like. That's why I approached this production of 'Under Milk Wood' with some trepidation which was not eased by Jack Thompson's opening monologue as First Narrator. Standing on a darkened, completely bare stage Thompson delivered the monologue beautifully but it contained language I simply did not understand.

I need not have worried. Once this 'play for voices' got underway the cast of ten provided a beautiful, funny and delightful presentation of the lives of the eccentric folk of the fictional Welsh town of Llareggub. There is not much that actually occurs in the play, yet there is plenty of activity.

I didn't expect to love it...but I did.