The Dylan Thomas Society of Australia Inc
2012 PROGRAM OF DTSA EVENTS
Sunday 5 Feb at the Mosman Club: 12.00pm lunch followed by 1.30 AGM and a short DTSA 'entertainment'.
Sunday 1 April at Julian Ashton Art School centre, Mosman: 12.00pm lunch followed by 1.30pm Legend & Poet afternoon of readings. This year’s theme: Dylan on radio and record.
Friday 25 May at Opera House Drama Theatre: visit to Sydney Theatre Company production of Under Milk Wood starring Jack Thompson. (All our tickets were sold at Celebration Lunch, but other tickets available at the box office)
Sunday 1 July, 12.30pm: A Dylan Thomas Christmas luncheon at the Grand View Hotel, Wentworth Falls, featuring “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” and other wintry words of Dylan, along with a full ‘Christmas in July’ luncheon.
Sunday 2 Sept, 2.00pm: The world’s first performance of ‘Goodnight, Dylan’ at the Mosman Club: an exploration of the true causes of the sudden death of Dylan Thomas in a rehearsed dramatised reading.
Saturday 1 December, 12.00pm: The DTSA Celebration Lunch at the Mosman Club.
THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, MOSMAN, 5 FEB 2012
The AGM at the Mosman Club on 5 February drew nearly forty members, slightly fewer than last year but still a healthy number. Everyone seemed to enjoy the informal and convivial atmosphere, the lovely views and the excellent value provided by Sybil's food and wine. The AGM itself ran quickly and smoothly. The society is doing well by any criterion used: membership numbers, finances, event support or creativity. The president, Clive Woosnam, vice-president, Will Christie, and treasurer, Kay Hardman, retained their positions for the eighth consecutive year. We welcomed Ian Lewis as secretary and three new committee members - Olwen Barnes, Helen Rex and Helmi Albrecht. The other members re-elected were Helen Woosnam (Editor of Down Under Milk Wood), Noel Hardman, Malcolm Brown, Emyr Evans, John Davies, Annie Schlebaum and Rosemary Munro. The events for 2012 were outlined and a positive atmosphere prevailed.
Patrick entertaining the members
After the meeting, Clive read his new composition, "A Christmas Comparison", in which he compared the events portrayed in Dylan's Christmas story with his own childhood memories of Christmas in Wales. Clive also presented Patrick Milligan with a framed copy of the photo taken at the December celebration lunch. Patrick responded with a brief reading of some of brother Spike's more serious poems.
The president's report for 2011 was presented at the meeting, and is included here for members to read.
DTSA: PRESIDENT’S REPORT for 2011, presented February 2012
2011 was another active year for the DTSA, with paid up membership reaching record levels and a host of interesting and well-supported events and enjoyable committee meetings.
The AGM took place on 6 February, 2011, at the Mosman Club, where we hold many of our events. Despite receiving thirty-six apologies, we had a record attendance of forty-four members, all of whom seemed to enjoy the excellent food, good company and the cheerful atmosphere during the meeting itself.
The AGM was held in the main auditorium. Everything went to plan and a large committee was elected, including three new members: Judy Ernst, Rosemary Munro and Zoe Norton Lodge. The executive remained unchanged. Kay Hardman, as treasurer, announced that the society was in a healthy financial state despite the costs involved in hosting the 2010 literary societies’ reception at the British Consulate. After the AGM ended, members listened to Dylan’s entertaining words, “On a Few Words of a Kind”, then I read out a tribute to Dylan written by Welsh writer Gwyn Thomas.
For the second year, our Legend and Poet readings took place on a Sunday afternoon at the atmospheric Julian Ashton Art premises at Georges Heights, and the results were even better than in 2010. The topic, Dylan Thomas and Humour, was bound to draw a full house, and for the first time we had to turn people away in advance. The program contained many wonderfully witty poems and prose excerpts from a range of writers linked in some way to Dylan, along with passages from Dylan’s letters, and selections from Under Milk Wood. Helen acted as narrator, while I wrote the script and acted as one of the readers along with Zoe Norton Lodge, Susannah Fullerton, Will Christie, Paul Nicholas and Emyr Evans. The food, produced by Helen and Kay, was as delicious as ever, while the wine added to the conviviality of the occasion. A DVD of the afternoon was made available to members soon afterwards, and is still available.
The next event was the longstanding biennial OUTING to Swansea, Caves Beach and Catherine Hill Bay, on 19 June. After weeks of unpleasant weather, the sun came out on the right day, ensuring that the event was a huge success. Members enjoyed the excellent Dylan DVDs on the charabanc itself, the stop at “Doylo’s” and the story of The Outing, followed by lunch in the main dining room of Swansea RSL Club, where we listened to and read aloud Dylan’s coastal poems. After that we ventured to Caves Beach in perfect conditions for readings of Dylan’s stories set in the Gower. Some members, who had not been there before, were lost in amazement, not just at Dylan’s words, but at the rugged beauty of the cliffs and caves. Finally we stopped for a relaxing drink in the bohemian Wallarah Hotel in Catherine Hill Bay before the return journey to Sydney during which we enjoyed some of the Legend and Poet DVD.
A major DTSA attraction was the performance of Will Christie’s Under Mulga Wood on September 2 at the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts in Pitt Street. This play for voices was first performed in the 2003 DTSA festival held to honour the fiftieth anniversary of Dylan’s death. Since then, it has been seen and heard in many places, both urban and rural, and broadcast on the ABC. It has also been published in both hard-cover and paperback form. This recent performance was the first aimed specifically at DTSA members since the 2003 premiere. As with Dylan’s Under Milk Wood, there was a vast array of voices to be covered by the actors. Even director/producer Elias Greig played seven roles – one the key part of First Voice. The other cast members were Will Christie, Theodore Ell, Kate Leaver, James McLeod, Laura Medway and Erin Turner. As usual, the food and drink were amazing in both quantity and quality, and sincere thanks must be paid to Helen and her helpers, Kay, Noel, Rob, Jane, Rosemary, Helmi, Ian, Judy and Emyr.
A happy group of forty-five or so members met for the celebration lunch at the Mosman Club on December 3. After a most enjoyable lunch, at which members could choose from the full, extensive menu of Sybil’s Restaurant on the club’s top floor, we had a celebration of Patrick Milligan’s eighty-sixth birthday. Then we were entertained by Will Christie and Zoe Norton Lodge’s presentation of The Road to Mulga Wood, a follow-up to The Road to Milk Wood, a piece written by Will some years ago and presented twice by the DTSA.
Will gave us the backround to his own play for voices, Under Mulga Wood, explaining his original interest in Dylan Thomas and the ways he had adapted the original play to an Australian setting. His commentary was itself a work of art. I gave details of the year’s events and the projected program for 2012. The seats booked for our members to attend the Sydney Theatre Company production of Under Milk Wood on May 25, 2012 were sold out at the lunch.
Helen has been editor of Down Under Milk Wood for the last three years, and has maintained very high standards in the newsletter which always comes out in the appointed months of March, July and November. The DTSA website at DyanT.talkspot.com has undergone some changes and is always worth visiting.
We had a large committee in 2011 which made for a reasonable turnout at meetings even though individual attendances were less than ideal. Plenty of ideas were discussed at meetings but we really do need committee members to take the lead in attending events and in assisting with organisation. I am very grateful to Gina, who is not standing as an office-bearer in 2012, for her work as secretary for the last four years, Kay for her work as treasurer and Helen for her work as editor of the newsletter. Will’s importance to the society as vice-president is as great as ever. At our 2011 events we depended a great deal on Helen and Kay’s catering and were pleased with the practical assistance we obtained from many members. In other ways, however, we need much more feedback from members prepared to assist in organisational matters and with articles for the newsletter. We have had very little response to the suggestion of an overseas tour in 2014 to celebrate the centenary of Dylan’s birth. There will be a second chance to respond following the March newsletter; if there seems little support then, the current concept will have to be abandoned.
Overall, the DTSA is well-placed to make substantial progress in 2012, and we trust that this AGM will provide the right impetus for the year’s activities.
Clive Woosnam
January 2012
THE DYLAN THOMAS SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA
The Dylan Thomas Society of Australia was formed in March 1995, largely through the initiative of Robert Jones, the Society’s first president, who had organised a weekend celebration of the poet's eightieth birthday in Bowral, NSW, five months earlier. We now boast members from many walks of life and from several states of Australia, though our program of events is still largely Sydney-based. Our Society is separate from the Dylan Thomas Society of Great Britain, but does have occasional contacts with it, with the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea, the Dylan Thomas Circle in Vancouver and the Thomas family itself. While the Society includes literary scholars and a keen Welsh contingent, it has resolved to remain non‑academic and international in approach.
Dylan's son, Colm, (right) at a DTSA reception with Clive Woosnam at Newport Beach
We organise a number of events each year, largely in recognition of the fact that, for Dylan, "the poem on the page is but half a poem". These events include a core of four held every year. In March or April, we hold a performance of readings entitled The Legend and the Poet, where members of the Society and other enthusiasts read aloud works by Dylan or linked to him in some way, and set in a script to a different theme each year. Around June/July, we hold either The Outing to Swansea (NSW), reliving Dylan’s famous story of that name, or celebrate a Dylan Thomas Christmas in the wintry surroundings of theSouthern Highlands orBlueMts. In August/September we hold a special Dylan Thomas lecture, panel discussion or performance of some aspect of the writer’s life and works. Late in the year we hold a celebration lunch in his honour. Additional events occur to commemorate special dates: in 2003, for example, we held a festival to honour the fiftieth anniversary of Dylan’s death. This involved a choral concert including special settings of Dylan’s works, a public reading of Under Milk Wood (with genuine Welsh accents) and the first ever performance of Under Mulga Wood, written by the Society’s second president, Will Christie.
The Society publishes a newsletter, titled Down Under Milk Wood, three times a year. The Annual General Meeting, which is as much a social event as a business meeting, is usually held in early February. Once the executive positions have been filled, other members are invited to become part of the committee by attending the regular committee meetings.
Photos of the three DTSA presidents : Founding President Robert Jones (centre) R Second President Will Christie (left); current President CliveWoosnam (right)
LINKS
www.bbc.co.uk/wales/dylanthomas/
www.dylanthomas.com/
www.undermilkwood.net/biography.html
www.welshwales.com
LIFE OF DYLAN THOMAS 1914-1953
Self-titled "the Rimbaud of Cwmdonkin Drive", Dylan Marlais Thomas was born on27 October 1914in suburbanSwansea,South Wales, and educated atSwanseaGrammar School, where his father was the senior English master. After leaving school at the age of sixteen in 1931, Dylan worked as a journalist for aSwanseaevening newspaper and acted in a local theatre company before attempting to make a living out of his writing. His late teenage years were to prove unquestionably his most productive. In 1934, Dylan’s first book of poems was published, and he moved fromSwanseatoLondon. There he cultivated his bohemian reputation at the expense of his literary output, before embarking on the gypsy life he would later share with his wife, Caitlin Macnamara, whom he married in 1937, and with their three children, Llewelyn, Aeronwy, and Colm. Dylan found money hard to earn and easy to spend, depending for his family’s survival on the goodwill of friends and benefactors, one of whom bought the Boat House in his favourite village of Laugharne as a home for his family. The nearby garage became an inspirational writing hut.
The same Boat House in Laugharne has since become identified with his name and is now the site of a museum in his honour, while the former Guildhall inSwanseanow houses the impressive Dylan Thomas Centre.
The war years were spent largely in London, with Dylan writing scripts for documentaries and some feature films and writing and broadcasting for BBC radio. It was during this time that he acquired a reputation for reading over the air in what he called his “cut-glass accent”, at once precise and yet richly resonant - a reputation that only added to those he had acquired already for his bold poetry and heavy drinking. Later, during his first three notorious lecture tours of Americaundertaken in the early 1950s to make money, that reputation for reading aloud was confirmed before huge audiences.
It was in New York at the beginning of a fourth tour of America that on 9 November 1953, having barely reached the age of thirty-nine, the poet Dylan Thomas died. He had just signed a contract promising him $1000 a week for future American lecture tours, his celebrity status was growing in Britain, and his new writings in lighter vein had greatly increased his already considerable earning potential. Even given his proven inability to manage money, his financial problems seemed to be over. He was also looking forward to staying with Stravinsky in California to write the libretto of a new opera. At the same time, he had frequently claimed that he did not want to live to the age of 40. In the end, medical malpractice, coupled with his heavy drinking and smoking and underlying health problems, saw that death wish fulfilled.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE WORKS OF DYLAN THOMAS
by William Christie
Thomas had begun writing poetry as a child and was especially prolific during his adolescent years, filling many notebooks that would continue to furnish him with material for his poems until he chose, wisely as it turned out, to break with his past and sell them in 1940. Thomas's first published volume, 18 Poems, appeared in 1934, the same year he quit his parents' house in Swansea to live in London. By 1936 and the publication of his second volume, Twenty-five Poems, his assured and unmistakable style had attracted the attention both of influential eccentrics like Edith Sitwell and of major critics and poets, including William Empson and T. S. Eliot, and had made a number of his early poems the compulsory anthology pieces they have remained ever since: "The force that through the green fuse drives the flower"; "Before I knocked"; "The hand that signed the paper"; "And death shall have no dominion". Less successful was the selection of poems published along with some stories as The Map of Love in 1939, so that the critical renown and more extensive readership that came with a confirmation of his gifts had to wait until the publication of Deaths and Entrances in 1946, which contained such perennial additions to the Thomas canon as "A Refusal to Mourn the Death by Fire of a Child in London", "Poem in October", "This side of truth", "The hunchback in the park", "In my craft or sullen art", and "Fern Hill". His last volume of original poems, In Country Sleep (1952), added "Over Sir John's Hill' and the inimitable "Do not go gentle into that good night".
By the time Thomas brought out his Collected Poems 1934-1952 there were few, if any, doubters amongst reviewers, critics, and the poetry reading public. They would come later, and largely from within the academy, when Thomas became the whipping-boy for a number of ethico-critical evangelisms. Their main focus was on the earlier, always elaborate and frequently obscure poems – poems influenced by the Metaphysicals Donne and Herbert, by Blake and by Hopkins, amongst others; poems combining bardic self-consciousness and intricate prosody in a way characteristic of the Welsh poetic tradition (though Thomas neither read nor spoke Welsh himself). Influenced also by Freud and Jung and, to a lesser extent, by surrealism, these early poems deploy a strange fusion of archetypal Christian symbolism with biological or bodily and sometimes industrial imagery, appearing to celebrate and simulate vital (and mortal) energies in a way that has often been described as 'Romantic'. The Romanticism is at times subtly ironized, however, occasionally even openly mocked, and along with his obscurity it was the mocking, 'nogood boyo' persona relished by Thomas in literature as in life that provoked censure. (The later more accessible poetry, on the other hand, was dismissed by some critics as popular and sentimental only.)
In spite of the critical reaction, however, the minutely, indeed obsessively crafted "accidental magic" of his best poems - for which, as with all poets, the failures are the price he paid - has secured Thomas a place in Keats's “Immortal freemasonry" of major poets. And this, even without taking into account his most famous single work, the "play for voices" Under Milk Wood composed over the final years of his short life and still being amended when Thomas died.