NO one can accuse the Progress Theatre in Reading of lacking ambition.
Thirteen years on from the theatre’s youth group staging Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood, the Progress has returned to the 1954 radio drama for a production under the guidance of the impressive Ali Carroll.
It’s a sparkling production, given an extra lift by its inclusivity and marvellous array of costumes, quilted backdrops, and improvised props (everything from cardboard gravestones through to wooden animal faces).
Mandy Dodd (backstage artist) and Wendy Hobson (costumes) both deserve medals for bringing an abundance of originality and vibrant colour to the tiny theatre’s stage. Arlo Haigh’s lighting is also vivid and eye-catching.
The drama, set in the Welsh village of Llareggub (read it backwards), encompasses a bewildering assortment of characters – most with issues.
The result is a stage that sometimes resembles rush hour at Clapham Junction railway station as actors appear, disappear, and then reappear as an altogether different character. Some even emerge from – or dash into – the audience like hares on a mission.
Yet there is so much to admire amongst the chaos. There are some mighty fine performances from actors that change roles more times than a chameleon changes colour.
Jo Green is outstanding as the play’s main ‘voice’ introducing us in his rich Welsh lilt to members of the village. They are an eclectic bunch: a rather scary butcher wearing a blood splattered apron (Chris Moran); a nosy postman who hobbles and gossips from door to door (Melanie Sherwood); Polly Garter (Michelle Appleby) who mourns the fact that her third husband is now six feet under; and the warring Pughs (Chris Moran and Juliet England).
Given that most of the 22 cast members play multiple roles (Green, for example, is also excellent as a tormented sea captain) it’s remarkable how they adapt (and change costumes) so effortlessly.
The result of all this madness is an enjoyable play that matures like a fine wine: the pieces all seem to come together.
All cast members excel, especially the children who bring exuberance and energy to the play – and those with learning disabilities (tenderly encouraged throughout by their acting colleagues) who take to their roles enthusiastically.
Apart from Jo Green, there are eye-catching performances aplenty. Paul Gallantry is an effective second voice while Kate Wakeman-Toogood carries off her main roles as the village’s Reverend Eli Jenkins and the sea captain’s former lover with great aplomb (talk about opposites).
Michelle Appleby’s singing is rather divine while Chris Moran’s Butcher Benyon is so scary and psychotic that you fear that she will run amok in the audience. Andrew Hughes Nind also takes multi-tasking to a new level as an organist and the village’s funeral director.
With the audience able to admire the impressive artwork of talented artist Emma Major during the interval (LLMCalling.com), it all makes for a rather enjoyable night. What Dylan Thomas would make of it all, we will never know. But I hope he would be impressed. The audience on May 2 certainly were.
Under Milk Wood runs until May 4.
For more info – https://progresstheatre.co.uk
Really enjoyable, such talent, it was an uplifting performance by the cast.