This weekend Welsh company Moonlight Theatre is flying into Malta to present the classic play Under Milk Wood. Jo Caruana meets producer and performer Robert Orchard to discover why this is a must-see for local theatregoers, as well as for anyone with a love for language and literature. 

It isn’t often that foreign theatre companies present their work locally. But, this weekend – and for one weekend only – Welsh company Moonlight Theatre is flying to the island to present Under Milk Wood, a classic play by Welsh poet and playwright Dylan Thomas.

Asked about why he and his company have decided to make the journey over to present the piece, producer Robert Orchard – who is also acting in the piece – explains that he has often thought about the similarities between the two small countries of Wales and Malta. “So, our touring company felt that Valletta would be the ideal place to stage the show,” he says.

Under Milk Wood is set in a small seaside town with quirky characters, and Orchard believes they lend themselves very well to Valletta and many communities in Malta.

The play’s director, John Rhys Thomas, lives in Swansea – hometown of Dylan Thomas – and has had a lifelong passion for his work, and particularly for this play. “He has taken productions of it all over the UK and also to New York – the city where Thomas died so tragically at the age of just 39,” Orchard says.

“John worked for some years as an examiner, travelling the world testing students in speech and drama, and says he was just bowled over by what he found in Malta… the culture, the warmth and humanity of the people, the love and respect for the English language and its literature. So when he and I met up again after a gap of many years, John mentioned the idea of coming here and I liked the challenge of making it happen from scratch, and was also fascinated to visit the island. So here we are some 15 months later!”     

Under Milk Wood has some marvellous laugh-out-loud moments but the play also has its very poignant episodes and characters too

The result of that meeting will be enjoyed by local theatregoers later this week, when Under Milk Wood opens at the Valletta Campus Theatre (ex-MITP) for a short run of four shows.

“It is a marvellous play… very funny, for a start,” Orchard says of the piece. “The great late Welsh actor Richard Burton called it ‘a comic masterpiece’ and he played the main part, First Voice, in the first BBC radio production.

The language is extraordinary – rich, lyrical and unique. Thomas can do things with words no one else writing in English can. The play charts 24 hours in the life of this seaside town, beginning, as Thomas says, at the beginning – in the middle of the night when “all the people of the lulled and dumfound town are sleeping now”. Nothing much actually happens, but the audience is entranced for two hours watching and listening to the lives of some of the fascinating if eccentric citizens of this town that time forgot.

“I think anyone who is interested in people and how they manage to live together, work together, sing and dance and gossip together, will love this play,” the producer continues. “There are some marvellous laugh-out-loud moments but the play also has its very poignant episodes and characters too. I challenge anyone not to be amused by the two hours they will spend in our company and, more importantly, in the company of one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.”

Now, with the opening night approaching, Orchard and the team hope local audiences will enjoy an evening of international theatre, and watching talented actors in one of the funniest modern comedies in the English language. “I hope they will go home remembering and chuckling over the foibles of some of play’s more exotic or quirky characters, and telling their family and friends that they haven’t laughed so much in a long time,” he grins.

“What’s more, as for those who didn’t know the work of Thomas, I hope they will go home wanting to read his sensational poetry and stories, and that they may even decide to come to Wales, to visit the places that made him and maybe even encounter some of the characters who he immortalised Under Milk Wood!”

The Moonlight Theatre production of Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas will be performed at Valletta Campus Theatre (ex-MITP), Valletta, on October 17, 18, 19, 20, with all performances starting at 7.30pm. Tickets may be obtained at www.ticketline.com.mt