ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the ambivalent relationship through a consideration of Dylan Thomas's status and place in Wales and through an examination of two theatrical reworkings of Under Milk Wood: Volcano Theatre Company's The Town That Went Mad and Dic Edward's Over Milk Wood. John Ackerman acknowledges, Under Milk Wood not only establish Thomas's worldwide fame, but it also took over from How Green was My Valley as the world-wide image of Wales, and with no sign of a rival. In 1995 it was the first Welsh play staged at the National Theatre in London with an all-Welsh cast. In 2003, Michael Bogdanov, the Artistic Director of the newly formed Wales Theatre Company offered Under Milk Wood as its inaugural production to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the play and Thomas's death. National Theatre in London produced the play one year earlier and it imported Welsh actors such as Rhys Ifans and Ruth Jones to perform to a predominantly English audience.
