Under Milk Wood
Date: October 1961
Venue: Longsands School
Under Milk Wood is billed as a play for voices and this certainly comes across in the film adaptation. About half the play is silent action with a voiceover, and the voiceover describes the thoughts of a stranger, who whilst wandering through a small Welsh village seems to know the intimate details of the life of a selection of the town inhabitants. Described in poetic terms we learn that most of the inhabitants are very strange people indeed – we are told about their innermost desires and thoughts. The other half is the characters themselves acting out some of what we have learned about them.
We start at dawn and follow through one day in the life of the town. The town itself appears to have been passed by in history and those that are left behind almost seem like they are caught in a very drab and depressing version of Groundhog Day, destined to repeat each day over and over. We see a bartender that has secret desires for the local school teacher, a haberdasher that is having an affair, a strange marriage with a very dominant wife and a husband that dreams of knocking her off and many other strange characters. A central character is a retired sea captain that is blind and dreams of the life that he used to lead.
Whilst an effort has been made to copy the cast list from the images available as accurately as possible, please accept our apologies if there are errors or omissions, we are only human!
Cast
1st Onlooker
Gordon Ascroft
Polly Garter, 2nd Onlooker
Muriel Sheard
Captain Cat, 2nd Drowned
Ernie Aves
Utah Watkins, 1st Drowned
John Sheard
Rosie Probert, Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard
Vicki Mountford
Cherry Owen, 3rd Drowned
David Wilson
Lord Cut-Glass, 4th Drowned
Pat Gaskell
Butcher Beynon, Dai Bread, 5th Drowned
George Irons
Myfanwy Price, Waldo’s Wife, Mary Ann Sailors
Vera Huckle
Mog Edwards, Mr Ogmore
Ray Stiles
Jack Black, Mr Pritchard
Gordon London
Mr Waldo, P.C Attila Rees
Gerald Bowd
Waldo’s Mother, Mrs Beynon
Phyllis Dobney
1st Neighbour, 1st Woman
Olive Craig
Mrs Dai Bread One, 2nd Neighbour, 2nd Woman
Margo Camp
Mrs Cherry Owen, 3rd Neighbour, 3rd Woman
Jan Biggs
4th Neighbour, 4th Woman
Pat Devlin
Little Boy Waldo, One of Mr Waldo’s
Michael Irons
Matti Richards, Ricky Rees
Maria Benevento
Matti’s Mother, Mrs Dai Bread Two
Lorna Laycock
Rev. Eli Jenkins, Organ Morgan
Pennant Greaves
Gossamer Beynon
Jane Cobb
Mrs Organ Morgan, Mrs Willy Nilly
Dorothy Huckle
Willy Nilly, The Guide Book
Derek Rootes
Sinbad
Brian O’Dell
Lily Smalls, Our Sal, Child
Lottie Hoenigsman
Mae Rose Cottage
Pat Martin
Bessie Bighead, Mother
Molly Van Bella
Ocky Milkman
Eric Meadows
Mr Pugh
John Ellis
Mrs Pugh
Betty Stocker
Nogood Boyo
Morris Wildman
Maggy Richards, Gwenny
Lesley Ward
Nasty Humphrey
Kenny Barnes
Billy Swansea
Ian Naylor
Jackie with the sniff
Callum Cursley
Evans The Death
Michael Cropley
Fishermen
Derek Gaskell
Other School Children
Gillian Braybrook, Susan Harrison, Geraldine Barnes, Judith London, Carol Darlow
Creative team
Producer
John Sheard
Stage Management
George Irons, Derek Rootes, Pennant Greaves
Lighting & Sound
Michael Cropley, Ian Pygott
