Dylan Thomas - Under Milk Wood

"To Begin at the Beginning…."

The words of Dylan Thomas as read in the mellisonant tones of Richard Burton. One of my most treasured books, I offer you to borrow indefinitely, switch off the lights and take your imagination for a walk.

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Coming Soon!

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Under Milk Wood is a 1954 play for radio by Dylan Thomas, later adapted for the stage. A film version, Under Milk Wood directed by Andrew Sinclair, was released in 1972. 

Thomas’s poetic writing and an unforgettable cast of characters makes this a landmark play in the history of both radio and theatre.
An all-seeing narrator invites the audience to listen to the dreams and innermost thoughts of the inhabitants of an imaginary small Welsh village, Llareggub.
They include Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard, relentlessly bossing her two dead husbands; Captain Cat, reliving his seafaring times; the two Mrs Dai Breads; Organ Morgan, obsessed with his music; and Polly Garter, pining for her dead lover. Later, the town wakes and, aware now of how their feelings affect whatever they do, we watch them go about their daily business.

There is an original recording I've also uploaded ( Download Here ) if you're interested:

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The play had its first reading on stage on 14 May 1953, in New York, at The Poetry Center. Thomas himself read the parts of the First Voice and the Reverend Eli Jenkins. Almost as an afterthought, the performance was recorded on a single-microphone tape recording (the microphone was laid at front center on the stage floor) and later issued by the Caedmon company. It is the only known recorded performance of Under Milk Wood with Thomas as a part of the cast. A studio recording, planned for 1954, was precluded by Thomas's death during November 1953.

And I've also uploaded a BBC R4 continuity which played after the above recording back in the 1950s:

( Download Here )

Description:

I found a copy on an old tape my brother found at a charity shop some years ago. At the end of the production is about 10 minutes of priceless Radio 4 continuity, plugging three up-coming Just Before Midnight plays, giving details about the imminent wavelength changes and a complete playing of the 'New Radio 4 Opening Music', which became known as the UK Theme. This version of the Theme is about 2 minutes longer than the one that was axed in 2006.
Audio details: 96/44 mono mp3. Sound quality is rather poor - the recording was on an elderly C120 cassette, that gave up the ghost soon after this transfer.

I'm gonna try and find those three 'Just Before Midnight' plays too.

Radio Enthusiasts all up in this shiz.

Rock on.