Theatre Review: Under Milk Wood - Everyman, Cork
“It is all about religion, sex and death,” is how actor Richard Burton described Dylan Thomas’s famous play, which has been hailed as the greatest drama ever written for radio. As for this stage version, directed by Geoff Gould of Blood in the Alley, it’s a little lack-lustre initially.
Performed by an all male cast of Rowan Finken, Martin Lucey and Denis Foley, their gentle sing-song accents, suggesting both Wales, where it’s set, and Cork, are not particularly emphatic. But once you get accostomed to the low-key delivery what is most striking is the lyrical language and the descriptive text, where concepts such as being able to hear “the dew falling” make perfect sense in the fictional Welsh fishing village of Llareggub (‘Bugger all’ spelled backwards) where all is quiet as the villagers settle down for the night. Dreams ensue, acted out by the cast, linking the characters to one another. Their world is small but they’re all connected to one another, sometimes as objects of lust.
