Edward Alderton Theatre Home | News | This Season | Next Season | Bookings | Auditions | Members | Archive | History | Location | Links | Contact Us   Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas Directed by Steve Marshall 8-15 October 1983 (7 performances) Under Milk Wood is inspired by the spirit of the small Welsh seaside towns in which Thomas lived for many years. It incorporates a delightful blend of humour and pathos with strong, deep characters, eccentric personalities and relationships based on hate as well as love. The poet's love of language and his skill with language is apparent throughout the play, making it truly a 'play for voice' as well as for the stage... Cast Shirley Andrews Sue Higginson Catherine Bateman Paul Jennings Andy Blackburn Carol La Roche Tony Donnelly Paul Lay Stephanie Dungate Jean Midlane Leanne Glanville John Midlane Martin Heard Dave Phillips Gary Heron Lorri Simkins Mike Higginson Brenda Winn Crew Stage Manager Christina Bicknell Assistant Stage Manager Joanne Colyer Set Design Steve Marshall Costumes Christina Bicknell Masks Dave Phillips, Steve Marshall Lighting  John Moore Sound Bernard Tilley   Review Evening to cherish Words that paint a thousand pictures come alive in Edward Alderton Theatre's Under Milk Wood, with lilting Welsh voices capturing all the imagery of the Dylan Thomas masterpiece. A cleverly cast company finds that something special in a captivating "A life in the day of..." production which runs until this Saturday. Voices are the key to this radio play and Gary Heron excels in the linchpin First Voice role, deftly binding together the evocative, often rambling portraits of Welsh townsfolk. Helped by a superb singsong Second Voice of Shirley Andrews, he focuses our insight into the close knit community of Lily Smalls, Polly Garter, the Pughs and Organ-Morgans. The formidable task, performed with apparent ease and an affectionate twinkle in the eye, lends a charming, yet haunting, mood to the production.  Fine cameo roles come from Dave Phillips as the unseeing, all-knowing Captain Cat, steeped in seafaring memories, and from Brenda Winn as, among others, the upright twice-widowed Mrs Ogmore Pritchard. Paul Jennings and Jean Midlane spar away as the poisonous Pughs, the husband plotting murder of his sour spouse. Tony Donnely is just right as the Rev Eli Jenkins praying for his less than perfect parishioners, such as the fallen Polly Garter, played with pathos by Catherine Bateman, and the prissy Miss Price (Sue Higginson) . Classical masks work well, providing actor and audience with an image of those loved, loathed or lost. The scaffolding set of doorways and windows frame the characters, making the most of chances for visual impact, with subduing imagination. Director Steve Marshall can take credit for the subtle strength of this heartening show and while Gary Heron's voice will linger longest, the craft of the whole company makes the difference between a run of the mill production and one to be cherished together with the home truths it captures. S H Kentish Times | 13 October 1983