Issue 149

Dylan Thomas Festival

20th November 2006

Paul Seacombe checks out the ninth annual Dylan Thomas Festival at the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea.

Music, special film screenings, celebrity appearances and, of course, poetry readings all featured over the 14 day festival celebrating the life and loves of Swansea's favourite son.

Peter Read starred as the poet in Gwynne Edwards play, Dylan Thomas in London, on Thursday evening, and Phil Bowen and Ash were the stand-out performers at Saturday night's Apples & Snakes promotion of contemporary verse and prose. Sunday saw Dylan's life (and death) in New York, featured as part of the BBC's Chelsea Hotel documentary. Thomas fell into a fatal coma at the Chelsea Hotel after being given an overdose of prescription drugs by a doctor who also happened to be one of his drinking buddies. Dylan's favoured watering hole in New York was the 'Cedar Bar', whose regular patrons also included abstract painters Willem De Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and fellow poet Brendan Behan. Veteran director, Alfred Leslie's movie, The Cedar Bar, also screened on Sunday night at the DTC, was a provocative and often confusing homage to the abstract expressionists and their hedonistic life style in 1950's New York.

On Tuesday the DTC staged A Case of the Poet, Phil Bowen's play on the lives of Monica Jones (widow of poet Philip Larkin) and Caitlin Thomas, Dylan Thomas' widow. Sally George of the RSC brought just the right amount of pathos and humour to her roles, depicting these long suffering women as creative intellectuals, overshadowed and neglected by their famous lovers.

Next up was Victor Spinneti who was born in the mining community of Cwm near Ebbw Vale. Spinetti appeared in all three Beatles films at the insistence of George Harrison's mum who would only agree to watch the 'Fab Four' on the big screen if Victor was in the cast. Having worked with legendary theatre director Joan Littlewood and appeared in the original productions of Oh What a Lovely War and Fings Ain't What They Used to Be, Spinnetti became friend and confidant to countless stars and celebrities of the sixties. Promoting his new autobiography, Victor Spinetti Up Front, this comic actor brought the house down with his showbiz anecdotes and a hilarious story involving surrealist painter Salvador Dali, the English, Canaries, masturbation, violins and the royal family.

The ubiquitous Peter Read teamed up with legendary musician Terry Clarke for the penultimate festival night's music and poetry. Clarke, accompanied by Huw Rees on drums and Vic Doyle on bass, rounded off proceedings with a fine set of country blues songs.

Sri Lankan born BBC news anchorman, George Alagiah, brought the festival to a close on Friday night. Promoting his autobiography, A Home from Home, the newsman shared the experience of living on three continents, the tribulations of English boarding schools and his views on the positive and negative aspects of multicultural Britain.

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