The Town That Went Mad
A Bastard Welsh Lyric

Volcano digs up the green, green grass of home, exploding the cosy romantic nostalgia that imprisons a mythic, forgotten corner of Wales. One poet, one priest, one piss-artist and two primadonnas wrestle for the soul of Wales in one of the most beautiful and bawdy performances you'll ever see.

This show began as a collaboration with three actors from Macedonia, and was first performed at the Gower Heritage Centre near Swansea. It was then re-directed, as one possible interpretation of Under Milk Wood, by Paul Davies and Branko Brezovec, and went on a short tour of the UK in the autumn of 1996. After a dispute with the Dylan Thomas estate, the show was reworked and revised, and became The Town That Went Mad (derived from Thomas's original title for his play).

The tensions between the romanticism of the community and the rationality of society may well have been one of the most potent issues in the life and work of Dylan Thomas, and it remains a tension central to our production.

The Town That Went Mad uses the lyrical words of Wordsworth and Blake, the critical modern eye of Gwyn Thomas, the sharp tongue of Caradog Evans and the bitter mind of Friedrich Nietszche. All other words are written by Paul Davies.

"When I am dead my dearest sing no sad songs for me plant thou no roses at my head nor shady cypress tree be the green green grass above me with showers and dewdrops wet and if thou wilt remember and if thou wilt forget"

The Town That Went Mad was premiered in In March 1997, when it played to packed houses at large-scale venues in Romania; including the prestigious Bulandra Theatre in Bucharest, the National Theatre in Timisoara and the National Theatre of Craiova. The production was also presented at London's South Bank Centre and in October 1999 at the Homus Novus Festival in Riga, Latvia.

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"another unpredictable, provocative challenge to cultural hegemony from Volcano" The Guardian