Familiar with Dylan Thomas’ text (BNA Drama in the early 2010s, a play utterly wasted on us bolshy teenagers), I was admittedly curious about the additional credit on the National Theatre’s latest production of Under Milk Wood. Additional material by Siân Owen, it read, suggesting some kind of extension to the piece, or in this case, a framing device.
It quickly became apparent that this framing device set up the play in an elderly care home, and my heart sank. My last experience with a care home on stage (Alan Bennett’s Allelujah at the Bridge Theatre) left me with a bad taste in my mouth, as its older characters were patronised, infantilised and largely disregarded in the grand scheme. I wasn’t keen to witness this sort of attitude again – but I was soon overjoyed (and hugely relieved) to discover that I wasn’t going to.
Continue reading
Riot in the Cheap Seats 