Under Milk Wood

The critics said:

March 7, 1972

Independent Theatre: Under Milk Wood

Dreamlike Quality Missing

by Norman Kessell

  Maybe time has lent enchantment, but on the whole I think I preferred Doris Fitton's original 1958 production of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood to the revival which opened at the Independent Theatre on Saturday.
  This despite the admirable if a bit too ponderously conscious, articulateness of James Condon's Onlooker and, although few achieve a recognisable Welsh accent, of the large cast generally.
  For one thing, the more expansive staging this time seems to have supplanted the remembered lyrical, dreamlike quality of the piece with an obtrusive theatricality.
  Again, there is a tendency to oversell the comedy, particularly by Condon whose underlining of Thomas's humor with pauses and smirks smacks of the music hall.
  Another disappointment is the miscasting of Susan Swinford as Polly Garter, the wild, cheerfuly amoral village girl who cannot say "No" – a role for which this attractive actress' in-built sophistication makes her totally unsuited.
  Her meticulously accurate and matter-of-fact singing of Polly's song had none of the haunting sadness memory recalls.
  For all that it is a delight to hear again Dylan Thomas' magical and imaginatively poetical word-play and there are several delightful cameo performances.
Best of these is Linda Horne’s Lily Smalls as she surveys her face in her master's shaving mirror.
  Others Include Bill Parley's Rev. Eli Jenkins: John Bush and Therese Kutis m Mr. and Mrs. Pugh; Gordon McDougall's Willy Nilly the postman and also his Butcher Beynon and David Goddard's Captain Cat.
  The effectively workable all-purpose set is designed and executed by Doug Kingsman.