The Bench Production
This play was staged at Havant Arts Centre, East Street Havant - Bench Theatre's home since 1977.
Characters
| Captain Cat | Tony Adams |
| Polly Garter | Robbie Cattermole |
| Organ Morgan/Sinbad Sailors | Jim Charlton |
| Mog Edwards/Mr Ogmore | Derek Cusdin |
| Mr Waldo/Lord Cut Glass | Chris Hall |
| Mr Pritchard/Mr Pugh | Fred Jeffries |
| Cherry Owen/Nogood Boyo | Alan Knight |
| Mrs Beynon/Mrs Dai Bread Two | Jean Lee |
| Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard/Bessie Bighead | Eve Moore |
| Rev Eli Jenkins | Jon Philpot |
| Goassamer Beynon/Mrs Cherry Owen | Rosalind Riley |
| Mrs Pugh/Mrs Organ Morgan/Mae Rose Cottage | Jill Sawyer |
| First Voice | Nicola Scadding |
| Dai Bread/Mr Beynon | Brian Smith |
| Mary Anne Sailors/Rosie Probert | Janet Simpson |
| Mrs Dai Bread One/Lily Smalls | Debbie Ward |
Crew
| Director | John Scadding |
| Lighting | Alastair Hynd |
| Set Design | Chris Shaw |
| Front of House | Sheila Spackman |
Director's Notes
Being of a certain age, I remember the day after he died, the preacher in Chapel asking us to pray for the soul of Somebody-or-other Thomas - and I remember us turning sneakily to each other to ask who the heck was he? A fortnight later they did his play on the radio but we didn't actually listen to it as it sounded a bit too arty crafty for us but as the years went by, we did hear it. We heard it and read it - and quote it repeatedly.
And so my love-hate relationship with Milk Wood started. I have loved it and hated it for twenty seven years now. I have loved the funny sayings and hated purple passages but mostly I have skipped bits of it. On the page and on record I would enjoy a bit of it and then get fed up with it and not finish it. It all seemed a lot of bits and pieces with infuriatingly funny lines and no dramatic necessity for me to want to finish it. I always considered it the last minute ravings of a talented alcoholic, scribbled off quickly before drinking ten whiskies and deservedly dying. In fact I considered it a rag-bag potboiler written for a quick eighty quid and undeservedly successful. I thought like a lot of Shakespeare, people pretended to like it, but actually didn't.
And yet the damned thing wouldn't go away and would perpetually sit there in my Production list of plays to be tackled someday, smug beneath 'Cherry Orchard' and snug above 'Crichton'. And there it has stayed, taken out, half-read, half-dusted and chucked back in again to be vilified and quoted - "Oh it's Dylan, Dylan all the time with you - Bach!".
Until I was looking for a script for this December production. I offered this play to the Selection Committee for two reasons. I wanted to do a play that everyone could be in it that wanted to. And so it is this evening - and I wanted to have a go at solving the Milk Wood Mystery. Is it a good play? Is it really worth doing? Is it a play as all in fact? And all the other questions. Well I write this note halfway through out investigations - November 7th it is today - and I'll tell you this - I think it's brilliantly well made, it's the opposite of a rag-bag, it's a two-toned diamond, it's packed with struggle and drama, full of Life Wish and Death Wish and if it comes out twee and bitty then it's cos we haven't got it yet! This is one of the most annoying, infuriating, brilliant scripts I've had a go at yet. I hope we all finish up pleased with it.
In the belief that this play was written to exploit the imaginations of the audience, this production deliberately reverts to the author's earlier intentions.
John Scadding
Reviews
The News F.N.
Bench gives a controlled performance
The dreams, fears and memories of a small Welsh town came to Havant last night in the Bench Theatre's production of Dylan Thomas's 'Under Milk Wood' at Havant Arts Centre. The play which captures a day in the life of the seaside town of Llaregyb, proved a difficult task for the Players, who overcame the restrictions of the intense poetic dialogue and brought rhythmic fluidity in the longer descriptive sequences. There is no single plot to the work. Instead, Thomas' narrative presents a wide spectrum of characters, each with his or her own story. Director John Scadding controlled the peaks and lulls in the script allowing the cast to develop the vivid Thomas caricatures such as Captain Cat, Nogood Boyo, and Lord Cut Glass, without letting the players take the characterizations too far. Even in parts where the production seemed slow, the cast worked hard to so justice to the heavy script.
In its best moments 'Under Milk Wood' came alive with vitality and eloquence. A well deserved credit should be paid to Nicola Scadding who found both tenderness and strength in her role as narrator. Strong performances came from Tony Adams as the blind Captain Cat and Gill Sawyer who handled the transition between her three characters with expertise. The tiered set, which was designed and constructed under the supervision of Chris Shaw, gave actors the freedom to make even the most subtle movement as effective as the incredible romping children sequence in which 16 players leap about in a schoolyard game.
'Under Milk Wood' was first produced as a reading by Dylan Thomas in New York in 1953. The Bench Theatre's production is based on a longer version of the play which was written for radio. Under Milk Wood' will be presented at Havant Arts Centre, East Street tonight and tomorrow night and on December 11, 12 and 13.
The News, 5th December 1980
