Dylan Thomas’ ‘Under Milk Wood’ at Marquette

Milwaukee performers Flora Coker and JohnSchneider are quite familiar with the small Welsh village of Llareggubinspite of the fact that neither of them has actually been there. In fact, no onehas. Llareggub doesn’t exist in real-world geography. Rather, it is the settingof poet Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood.A play for voices, Under Milk Wood debuted on BBC Radio in 1954. Coker, Schneider anda host of others will return to the fictional village in a single performanceas the Marquette Department of Performing Arts, Bucketworks and Nice Plays Inc.present a reading of the play Dec. 27 at MarquetteUniversity’s Helfaer Theatre. In the dead of winter, seven actors willpresent Thomas’ ode to spring.

Schneider reprises hisrole of the First Voice, a role he has performed often since the now defunctTheatre X first produced the piece in 1975. “First Voice is the main narratorand gets some of the most gorgeous poetry,” Schneider says.

Likewise, Flora Coker isset to play all of the roles that she’s become familiar with since her first stage experience with thepiece in ’75.

Five others, withvarious levels of theatrical experience, will join Coker and Schneider for thisforay into Llareggub. Marquette’sPhylis Ravel appears as a number of characters, including Rosie Probert,long-lost love of the lusty, blind, old heartbroken Captain Cat, played by the ShepherdExpress’ Rip Tenor. Also featured in the production are KateGustin, who plays many of the younger female roles, Brian Sheridan, whoportrays Rev. Eli Jenkins, and Bucketworks’ James Carlson, who plays a drunk, aghost, a postman and more.

In total, the cast ofseven will tackle some 67 roles. As bewildering as that may sound, the productionitself is actually very minimalist.

“The staging is terriblysimple,” Schneider says. “We sit on stools in two rows, occasionally stand up,interact a little, but mostly just listen to one another, and try to hit ourcues with the right timing and vocal energy and music.”

The show is being heldon the campus of Marquette University, with asuggested donation of $10.

Under Milk Wood will be performed at 2:30 p.m. onSunday, Dec. 27, at Marquette’sHelfaer Theatre.