Under Milk Wood [extract]

Summary: BBC Television presentation of an extract from the production of the stage version of Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood which was performed as part of the 10th Edinburgh International Festival before an invited audience at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, by arrangement with Tennent Productions and Henry Sherek (Radio Times, 17 August 1956, pp. 20 and 21).
Theatre play: Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas [more information]
Play synopsis: 'An omniscient narrator invites the audience to listen to the dreams and innermost thoughts of the inhabitants of a fictional small Welsh fishing village Llareggub ('bugger all’ backwards).They include Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard, relentlessly nagging her two dead husbands; Captain Cat, reliving his seafaring times; the two Mrs Dai Breads; Organ Morgan, obsessed with his music; and Polly Garter, pining for her dead lover. Later, the town awakens and, aware now of how their feelings affect whatever they do, we watch them go about their daily business’ (source: ).
Production history: Under Milk Wood was first performed as a stage play in Edinburgh in 1956, following its initial incarnation as a radio play which was broadcast in 1954, shortly after Thomas’ death. It was first produced for television shortly after the subsequent London run closed.
Date of transmission: Monday 20 August 1956
Time: 9.45pm (45 mins)
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC

Producers

Edward Burnham, Douglas Cleverdon

Television Presentation by

Michael Henderson

Playwright

Dylan Thomas

Designer

Michael Trangmer

Introduced by

Wynford Vaughan Thomas

Cast

Barbara Alleyn	Mrs Dai Bread One
Angela Crow	Lily Smalls
Richard Curnock	Organ Morgan
Catherine Dolan	Mrs Dai Bread Two
T. H. Evans	The Rev. Eli Jenkins
John Gill	Mr Pritchard; Cherry Owen; Dai Bread
Cliff Gordon	The Guide
Denys Graham	Mr Ogmore; Nogood Boyo
Peter Halliday	Sinbad Sailors
Donald Houston	A Voice
Margo Jenkins	Mae Rose Cottage
Gareth Jones	Mr Waldo; Butcher Beynon
Raymond Llewellyn	Mr Pugh
Betty Lloyd Davies	Mary Ann Sailors
Diana Maddox	Polly Garter
Claudine Morgan	Mrs Pugh
Patricia Mort	Gossamer Beynon
Peter Murphy	Young Waldo
Joan Newell	Mrs Beynon
Gwyneth Owen	Myfanwy Price
Dorothea Phillips	Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard
Buddog Mair Powell	Mrs Cherry Owen
David Rees	PC Atilla Rees
Aubrey Richards	Mog Edwards; Lord Cut Glass
Daphne Shaven	Matti Richards
William Squire	Captain Cat

Title: 'Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood, "a Play for Voices" on Radio, Stage and Television’ (Journal article)
Author/creator: Amanda Wrigley (Author)
Reference: Critical Studies in Television, vol. 9.3, pp. 77-88

Title: Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood (BBC, 1957) (Blog article)
Author/creator: Amanda Wrigley (Author)
Reference: https://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/2014/11/28/under-milk-wood, published 28 November 2014

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