Chris Eldon Lee reviews “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog”, which is at Clwyd Theatre Cymru until Saturday 19th April 2014.
After their lively romp through Dylan Thomas’s “Milk Wood” in the Main House this is more scholarly stuff in the Studio space. This revival of Tim Baker’s compendium of Thomas short stories marks the author’s centenary in a more modest but also much more thoughtful way.
The trademarks are all there – with a very versatile cast of five switching effortlessly between characters and storylines, and Thomas’s famous and contagious way with words clearly presented. He littered his literature with lists and alliterations. See, I’m doing it myself now.
All this is played out on Mark Bailey’s fabulous but oh-so-simple set which says ‘Wales’ before even a word is uttered. It’s a highly polished black circle of reflective flooring with just four rough-trimmed piles of slate for the actors to work around and, at the back, the most glowering, chameleon cyclorama I’ve ever seen; accompanied by the loving sounds of gentle waves and raindrop piano notes.
Speaking in English and singing in Welsh, with no props at all and mouthing most of their own sound effects, the actors arrive as full of beans as Enid Blyton’s ‘Famous Five’. In their 30s woollies and buttoned wrists they bring to life a long-loved bedtime story.
Six stories actually. Writer and director Tim Baker takes “Return Journey” as his backbone tale and it’s a wonderfully nostalgic piece that has Thomas revisiting his old Swansea, on a day when “the snow is like Siberian confetti”, just to see if anyone still remembers his name. All five actors adopt his narration and swap genders at will, snatching a clip of an old codger here and a sentence or two from a truculent schoolboy there. And then, with just a change of shadows, we’re transported to another episode altogether.
There’s the fun and games of ‘The Outing’, which was probably written as an excuse for Thomas to visit as many seedy South Wales pubs as possible. And there’s the deeply sensitive portrayal of disability and loss as two lads walk the coastal path discussing “Who Do You Wish Was With Us”.
Owen Gwynn is so delicate in this tale as the disadvantaged Raymond Price, slipping so convincingly on the rocks you want to actually leap up to save him. In fact it’s a really well chosen cast who work together like the parts of a well-polished grandfather clock. Gimlet eyed Jenny Livsey does a deeply threatening primary school teacher, whilst Sion Ifan grows enormous before your very eyes as a fat man “breathing like a brass band”.
There are so many fleeting moments of completeness with classic one-liners (often nonsensical but always sensual) summing up a whole character. “He had a face you could dig a garden with” or “he was smoking a conscious Woodbine”. And nearly all of it harks back to Thomas’s own young dog childhood and a yearning for Wales, words and small wonders. It’s like being in the playground that ultimately produced “Under Milk Wood” and it’s so satisfying – both as an entertainment in itself, but also as a very revealing preface to his final work.
Speaking of ‘words’, Thomas had two he really didn’t like. “Nice” and “Honestly”. Well this is a very, very nice evening, honestly.
Visit www.clwyd-theatr-cymru.co.uk for bookings & information about Clwyd Theatr Cymru.
Clwyd’s production of ‘Under Milk Wood’ can be seen at Theatr Hafren in Newtown, Powys, from April 15th to 17th.
Photo : Catherine Ashmore