In and amongst the random variety, kid’s shows, off-kilter musicals and pantomimes, the New Theatre, Cardiff is also managing to fit in a few very cool productions to mix things up a little. As well as their upcoming adaptation of E. R. Braithwaite’s semi-autobiographical To Sir, With Love this October, they’ve also announced that they will be putting on a performance of Dylan Thomas’ classic 1954 radio drama, Under Milk Wood.
The production is set to open on Tuesday the 11th March 2014, with a short run up to Saturday the 15th March 2014 giving us just five days to catch a performance. Evening curtain rise will be 19:30, but there will also be a 14:30 matinee on the Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. The final day matinee will also feature both audio description and captions to help make the play more accessible.
Ticket prices for the Wednesday and Thursday matinee’s are £11, £13 and £15 for seats in the stalls, £13 and £16 in the circle, £8.50 and £11 in the upper circle and £8.50 for wheelchair space and companion seat. Evening performances and the Saturday matinee are £14, £17 and £19 for the stalls, £17 and £20 in the circle, £9 and £14 in the upper circle and £9 for wheelchair space and companion seat. There’s also a student deal for evening performances, excluding the final Saturday play, with tickets just £5 if they’re bought after 18:00.
Under Milk Wood tells the story of a fictional little village in Wales called Llaraggub in which Thomas explores the lives, dreams and thoughts of its inhabitant characters. These include Captain Cat, an old blind sailor who’s sleep is haunted by nightmares of his lost comrades, Evans the undertaker who dreams of his childhood as a means of escape from the reality of his gruesome adult life, and Dai Bread, the bigamist baker who dreams of taking his escapades up to the next level.
The New Theatre production will be directed by Terry Hands, former chief executive of the Royal Shakespeare Company. His last production was Friedrich Schillar’s Mary Stuart at Theatr Clwyd, Mold, which looked at the last days of Mary, Queen of Scots.
It will mark the 100 years that have passed since Dylan Thomas’ birth in 1914 along with the 60 year anniversary of the first British production of the play, which originally premiered in New York with Thomas reading many of the parts, before its radio performance in 1914.
The BBC has also recently announced that it will be commissioning a one-off drama looking at Dylan Thomas’ final months on his fourth visit to the States. Titled, A Poet in New York, the dramatisation will be coming to BBC 1 Wales and BBC 2 in 2014 focusing on the months before his death while he read for Under Milk Wook at the Poetry Centre in Manhatten.
You can visit our what’s on in Cardiff events guide for more from the Welsh capital.
