UKC

I vaguely remember hearing a while ago that the BBC were making a new version of Under Milk Wood for the Dylan Thomas centenary, and thinking it was a bit pointless - the definitive version had already been done by Richard Burton (twice).

By luck I caught it on the telly the other night, shows what I know - no Richard Burton of course but it's absolutely wonderful.

5 days left on iplayer:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01x5k4n/under-milk-wood

In reply to deepsoup:

Thanks for posting this.

Nice to see they haven't tried to reproduce or compete with the Burton version. This one is lovely.

In reply to deepsoup:

I was wrong, it isn't lovely, it's magnificent.

In reply to Rampikino:

Thanks for that! The Burton version as spoiled for me by bloody Liz Taylor. Her "Welsh" accent? Dear god!!

In reply to deepsoup:

Seen this?!?!?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-27686047

In reply to stroppygob:

Eh? Liz Taylor?
I had to google it - never saw the 1972 film. (And I'll be sure I never do, ta.)

When I said Richard Burton did the definitive version (twice), I meant on the radio!

In reply to deepsoup:

Ah ha, ok, I see now.

I have the DVD of the Burton version, it's bloody good, except for that silly cow. Ryan Davies is wonderful.

In reply to deepsoup:
Dear God, that was well done. Thanks you so much. I managed to get it by using "Hola" on my desktop browser, not Ideal. Getting it off the torrents now.

I was in tears at some points.

WOOT! That Charlotte Church can be nasty to me any time she wants.

In reply to deepsoup:

The interchange between Captain Cat and Rosie was beautiful and truly heart-wrenching.

In reply to deepsoup:

Thanks for posting this link. Absolutely superb. I wonder if the BBC will make it available as a DVD sometime soon?

In reply to deepsoup:

excellent!

In reply to deepsoup:

The wife and I watched it when it was on the TV a couple of weeks ago. We were really surprised that it was only shown on BBC Wales. It is excellent I have to say, really great. Well worth watching.

In reply to stroppygob:
Brilliant, well done. I wondered if you'd be able to get it over there.

I was impressed with Charlotte Church too.
Eve Myles stole the show though I thought, the Lily Smalls mirror scene was stunning.

In reply to Rampikino:

That it was, I may have shed a little tear myself.

In reply to deepsoup:

For me LLareggub has always been in my head. Captain Cat was an old strawberry-nosed Navy hat-wearing man, not a polished Tom Jones. The words trigger images and emotions and the visual aspect detracts from this. I suspect good actors could bring an emotional depth to the play but having celebs flatly reading the words did nothing for me.

In reply to Toccata:

Always the danger of doing a radio play on the telly I suppose. (Or the film of the book for that matter.)


Blimey, that's a bit harsh innit?
Mind you, to be fair there is one member of the cast I'd put in that category. But it's only a tiny part and he's doing his best bless him, so no need to name any names.

In reply to deepsoup:

Almost without exception I thought they all read it exceptionally well. (Word of the moment: exceptional )

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Agreed Gordon. There may have been celebrities doing the reading but there was nothing flat about it at all, and the celebrity element was very down-played.

Again, I point to the section between Captain Cat and Rosie. But also Mr Ogmore and Mr Pritchard (made me laugh aloud).

In reply to deepsoup:

I've taken the liberty to assume I might be wrong on this so have just finished watching it again! Perhaps I was harsh regarding the reading, some of which did work. I do moss some of my favourite lines ("downs his last bucket of black brackish tea and rumbles out bandy to the clucking back where the hens twitch and grieve for their tea-soaked sops"). But I still don't like it.

Let me explain. The effect UM had on me when I first listened was to take me back the the culture of the small town I grew up in. A claustrophobic town with agoraphobic inhabitants. People from every spectrum stuck, forced together, making do as best they can. Hopelessness (Polly G., No-Good-Boyo, etc) abounds interspersed with hopeless hope (Gossamer Beynon and Sinbad; Myfanwy and Mog) and despair (Mr and Mrs Pugh). Sadness is covered with aggression (Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard) or humour (Mr Beynon). The town is coloured with character yet bleak.

So what happens when the characters are dispersed? Captain Cat overlooking London, healthy, tanned and smiling evokes no pathos. Perhaps the visual 'success' is a metaphor for life experience. An American bar has little to do with the play or Welsh culture. The smiling, beautiful people reading the words don't carry the sadness, the darkness and pathos of those stuck in a grim, isolated seaside village. All I could see was a sea of cameos.

Dylan Thomas, for me, was a welder of words. Beautiful structures made form disparate parts. The radio version has survived so well because you want to concentrate to enjoy every nook and cranny of the text. Music in the BBC radio version was just enough to direct emotions and convey the scene, always sad. Rollicking pub songs don't work. Polly G.'s song conveyed the 'diamond in the rough', really standing out from everyone else in the play. Bryn Terfel rather ruins this: while K. Jenkins sings beautifully she is light years from Mr Terfel in quality.

So I fell I have just watched Strictly Come Acting: Wales. Entertaining perhaps, but ultimately vacuous.

In reply to deepsoup:

I used to have a version of the first public reading of Under Milk Wood including Dylan Thomas as one of the voices. The 33rpm vinyl was borrowed from a library and I recorded it on a c90 cassette. I think it got lost in a house move. I always preferred it to later versions though the quality was very poor. Not sure if it is still available.

In reply to deepsoup:

PS The jazz musician Stan Tracey did a superb album based on themes from Under Milk Wood as well.

In reply to deepsoup:

This is the real Under Milk Wood

http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/c.php?i=8357

In reply to deepsoup:

Love them both. Also looking forward to seeing it performed live at Birmingham Rep on Saturday.

In reply to Toccata:

We felt the same at times (my wife the drama teacher). That the actors looked and sounded that they had recorded their lines in isolation lost the intimacy of voices responding together. That said, some of the parts were brilliantly, and surprisingly, done.

Living up to the early Burton recording and the later film is a hard act to follow.

In reply to Toccata:

Blimey, that was above and beyond the call as you didn't like it the first time. Subjective innit, I don't agree with you but I certainly don't think you're wrong.

I don't think the visuals really signify anything for what it's worth. There's probably no way that cast could ever have been assembled together to do it "properly" (well, not on a BBC budget anyway) so they made the best of what they had and edited together footage of individuals and small groups filmed in various locations at various times. It's a wee bit clunky here and there, but overall I think they did an excellent job of the editing and the sound design.

I get what you mean about the lack of pathos, but I'm obviously less involved with it than you are and it really doesn't bother me that it's a more um.. light hearted version. (Out and out comedy here and there.)

In reply to deepsoup:

Having seen and listened to UMW so many times, most recently in an excellent performance here;

http://ccc-canberracriticscircle.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/under-milk-wood-by...

it was great to see and hear a semi modernised new take on it. As they say, "de gustibus non est disputandum", but still, to allow ones preconceptions of who and what and where inhabits UMW is to do the play no favours.