Youth Arts Leicestershire
Under Milk Wood
Young people from Leicestershire have been performing with Youth Arts at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for the past 16 years. Youth Arts Leicestershire is an independent charitable organisation formed in 1993 which works to sustain quality participatory performing arts activities for young people aged 5 - 25 years.
The fragmented voices of the people who live in the imaginary Welsh village of Llareggub (try saying it backwards), tell of the sleep of longing and the yearnings of daily life. In one day we share their dreams, their gossiping, their longings and disappointments, before they return to a busy sleep.
Performances:
24th - 29th August
Price:
£7.00 (£5.00) »
'Go on, surprise yourself'.
Under Milk Wood
Youth Arts Leicestershire
Until today, my acquaintance with Dylan Thomas' moving prose poem has been entirely through either the written or the spoken word. So I found myself wondering how this "play for voices" could be "acted" in the theatre. I need not have worried.
Youth Arts Leicestershire has managed a highly original presentation, combining elements of drama, ballet, mime and invention. The first revelation, for someone who has always associated Under Milk Wood with the ringing Welsh tones of Thomas himself or Richard Burton, was that the play had an all female cast. The second was that there were only eight of them, contrasting with the thirty or more of the original radio play. However, none of this seemed to matter, and was quickly forgotten as the lines of the play flowed seamlessly from one performer to another.
A key factor in my enjoyment of this performance was the succession of small surprises which occurred throughout. Many were quite subtle, but together ensured that this presentation included elements of the pathos, tragedy and humour which are the hallmarks of Dylan Thomas' work and life.
The costumes are very cleverly arranged, allowing further surprises in the way they are used. This is another area where to say more would give away the uniqueness of their approach. Suffice it to say that, in addition to the several uses of the basic costumes, additional articles of clothing identified each of the characters, and these were ingeniously hidden and produced in quick succession as needed, without any of the cast having to leave the stage.
The whole performance is skilfully choreographed, so that at times I got the feeling that I was watching a ballet, with the vocal contributions of the characters being the music. At times this was done so expertly that I forgot how many people were on the stage.
The casting seemed to have been carefully thought out, with characters matching the voices of the performers. This also applies to the group scenes, so that when, for example, a group of the cast were supposed to be 'the gossiping neighbours' it was really very believable.
It would be difficult to say more without giving away the element of surprise, which was a huge part of my enjoyment of this performance. All I can do is to thoroughly recommend it and say, "Go on, surprise yourself".
Jim Pym 24.8.09