Tuesday 28 June 2011

Under Milk Wood

Steven Brodie has been involved with Progress Youth Theatre for the last 8 years and he is still only 17. In Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas he plays Captain Cat, a blind ex-sailor who is on stage throughout the whole performance. He tries to keep his eyes slightly out of focus and is careful not to follow the action on stage as well as not wriggling too much on the hard wooden chair.

Steven explained that the play tells the story of the lives of the people of Llareggub partly through their dreams and partly through real events. Apart from Steven most of the cast play multiple characters and he was hugely impressed by the idea of a one woman production he has heard about.

I wondered what production Steven had most enjoyed taking part in while at Progress. He mentioned several, for different reasons that cover the whole range of motivations for being involved in theatre: Cold Comfort Farm because everyone in the cast became very close; Macbeth because it is his favourite play and Blood Wedding because it was the first play not written for children he was involved in. My favourite was  Don Juan Comes Back From The War which he said he liked "because it was such a beautiful play", He's right it was and if Under Milk Wood is of the same standard it will be well worth watching.


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Progress Youth Theatre Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas 5th - 9th July 2011
(please note dates as were wrong in previous posts)

Open air production The Tempest by William Shakespeare 23rd - 30th July 2011

See Progress Theatre website for details of all our productions and auditions.

2 comments:

Minette Buxton said...

We attended the opening night of under Milk Wood and were most impressed by the entire production. The first impression, given by the set and the lighting before the play began, was delightful and all other aspects were equally good...acting, costumes, sound effects and most imaginative direction using choreographed manipulation of the props was a joy. Would have applauded during some moments(Polly Garter's song, Captain Cat's poignant memory of Rosie Probert)if it wouldn't have broken the flow. warm congratulations to all concerned!Hope you have the audiences you deserve.

Progress Theatre said...

Thanks Minette - glad you enjoyed it.