CRAFT OR SULLEN ART?

UNDER PLYWOOD by Thomas Dylan

The post-rationalisation self- justification essay                       

The idea for Under Plywood emerged from my contention that Dylan Thomas was Wales’ best known literary figure, Under Milkwood probably his best known work and both he and his play have now been assimilated into mainstream culture. That is to say, appropriated by and absorbed into a cultural establishment which he might well have abhorred. Put simply, the argument was that Under Milkwood was written as a social satire, not as the sentimental piece of surrealist whimsy it is now more frequently presented as. Were Dylan Thomas alive today to make his Return Journey he would, in my opinion, be appalled at what he found. Many of the themes that I see in Under Milkwood, not least the hypocrisy and duplicity endemic in Welsh life, have been multiplied and amplified in the intervening period. The environmental and social degradation that has taken place betray any sense of post-war optimism that may have tempered his writing.

This then led to the experiment of using the form and characters of Under Milkwood and ‘updating’ the text by simple reference to contemporary regional media. Loosely applying Dylan Thomas’ observations on a small, fictional coastal town to a large generic coastal town in 2012 produced dark contrasts and, transporting his characters through time, tragi-comic consequences. Thus, in turn, some observations are made as to when and where it all went wrong for those towns and many of their inhabitants. The resulting draft then took the form of a very black comedy and, regrettably, the joke is on those of us who occupy such places. Moreover, the punch in the punch line, which comes slightly before the end of the version performed on 21 July 2012 *. That is self-directed for those of us who have been engaged in the business of ‘regeneration’ of our post-industrial towns. The exercise afforded the opportunity for harsh self-assessment and if fingers are being pointed or wagged in Under Plywood they are most probably in the direction of the mirror. (With,of course, the exception of the two fingers raised by Gossamer Beynon to the Minister for State Entertainment……).

Under Plywood by Thomas Dylan is concerned largely with the negatives and may be considered by some to be destructive. The intention was to provoke a positive response, a reaction to such negativity. The word ‘cynical’ has been levelled as criticism and is accepted by the dictionary definition of that word i.e.  distrusting or disparaging the motives of others; and; bitterly or sneeringly distrustful, contemptuous, or pessimistic.

Whilst the work displays such characteristics it would be tragic if anyone accepted the content of Under Plywood as a fair and factual representation of life in Urban South Wales in 2012. I will concede that I might well fail in this respect. A friend of mine resident in Swansea criticised the factual accuracy of Twin Town thus – “ That church isn’t in Swansea – it’s in Port Talbot”).

The work might also be considered a subversive prank and, being a variation on a previous work, a form of détournement.   I would claim, however, that Under Plywood does not have a meaning that is antagonistic or antithetical to the original, a key characteristic of detournement.  My intention was to construct a new work which merely alludes strongly to Under Milkwood, a piece familiar to the target audience, who might appreciate the contemporary, rather than opposing, message. It is then a satirical parody which reuses some of the characteristic elements of the originating work rather than the faithful mimicry characteristic of detournement. Dylan Thomas made use of literary pastiche himself in the development of his art and sullen craft.

In conclusion then, this started as a joke and, if anything, the joke is on me. After nearly forty years in the property and construction industry in South Wales the best that can be said is that some areas are a bit less crap than they used to be. After huge expenditure of resources –economic, intellectual, political and social- some of what we have is a little bit better than what it replaced. I would hope that Under Plywood serves to stimulate a constructive response, perhaps provoke some admission that we have failed to make Wales as good a place as it deserves to be.

Finally, I am happy for it to stand as my contribution to the Counter Cultural Olympiad, 2012 – “a counter-culture pre-supposes we have a culture to counter”.

R H Croydon

*Under Plywood by Thomas Dylan was premiered at the Birtacres Theatre Cardiff University on 21 June 2012 as a contribution to the RIBA Love Architecture Festival. The event was hosted by The Welsh School of Architecture.
A second reading was given at the Welsh School of Architecture on 18 December 2012. A recording of Part One that performance can be viewed on Youtube
Part 1a http://youtu.be/uTkR7pT-N9Y
Part 1b http://youtu.be/QWzKWSTwywY
Part 1c http://youtu.be/2j8XxzJ21eM
Part 1d http://youtu.be/IiRkPcDrfM8