Nuffield Theatre

4^th to 8^th June 1974

.... they're all in the Maskers' 'Milk Wood' ...

The Maskers are staging Dylan Thomas's rollicking radio play "Under Milk Wood" --- exactly 20 yeras after it was first broadcast. It's not long though since Thomas's brilliant piece of imagery was last seen at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton --- Theatrescope brought it in 1971. But the play is such a masterpiece that it can well stand another production in such a short space of time.

Theatrescope staged it very simply with only seven players. Ken Spencer, who is both directing next week's production and playing Captain Cat, has opted for a large cast with 43 Maskers taking part and 12 children from the Mini Maskers. Only a handful will be doubling --- and that happened by accident rather than by design.

Ken is staging the village in stylised form, with 14 levels leading up to a hill. "It's a difficult play to stage because you have got the problem of going from house to house," said Ken. "And you have to create the village without all the trimmings --- otherwise they can overpower the poetry of the play.

One of the Society's Welsh players has been enlisted to give special sessions to help the cast with the accent. He has decided on a general accent rather than setting it in a particular patch of Wales. Ken has cast two trained singers for the roles of Polly Garter and Mr Waldo -- Jocelyn Eames and David Jupp.

David Bartlett has the role of the narrator, originally taken by Richard Burton. Other familiar names in the cast are David Pike who plays the Reverend Eli Jenkins, Pete White (Mr Pugh), Graham Buchanan (Willy Nilly and Butcher Beynon), Mollie Manns (Rosie Probert), Judy Rake (Myfanwy Price), and Ann Archer (Mrs Ogmore Pritchard). Sheila Chitnis, who used to appear regularly on Southern Television's "House Party" has her first speaking role with the Society -- she plays Mrs Dai Bread One.

The Southern Evening Echo wrote;

There are some delightful moments --- Graham Buchanan's Willy Nilly, David Pike's Reverend Eli Jenkins, Judy Rake's Myfanwy Price and Ron Pearson's Cherry Owen, who all manage to bring the characters to glorious life....