About the Play:

Dylan has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Male Monologues and Female/Male Scenes.

Dylan is a full-length biographical drama by Sidney Michaels, based on Dylan Thomas in America by John Malcolm Brinnin and Leftover Life to Kill by Caitlin Thomas. The acclaimed Welsh poet and public speaker Dylan Thomas makes what turns out to be his final tour of America. The play Dylan begins with his farewell to wife and Wales to tour the US, follows him to colleges, bars and bedrooms and finally to the ship that bore his body home, dead at 39 of alcoholism.

Dylan is the heroic, tragic, and tender tale of the life of Dylan Thomas, the pre-eminent lyric poet of the 20th century. In the early 1950s, Welsh poet Dylan Thomas embarked on two infamous American-speaking tours, hoping to cement his reputation as the best lyric poet of the 20th century and secure his financial future. Instead, separated from the woman and country he loved and faced with endless temptations, his remarkable genius was cut short. The play explores not only his tempestuous relationship with his work, but also that of his wife and family, all coloured by his abundant use of alcohol. During his lifetime, Thomas wrote many great poems, most famously "Do not go gentle into that good night." He also wrote the enduring holiday classic "A Child's Christmas In Wales." Thomas' long-suffering but combative wife, Caitlin Macnamara Thomas, an author in her own right, was the female counterpart in personality to Dylan. Their pairing was stormy, fuelled by alcohol and infidelity. Dylan, the Broadway hit about the intemperate and often vulgar poet Dylan Thomas challenges audiences to "rage against the dying of the light" while exploring the effects of art, addiction, fame, and fortune.

Dylan premiered in 1964 at the Plymouth Theatre in New York City, received a total of four Tony nominations, including Best Play, and Alec Guinness won his only Tony for his performance in the title role. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and been performed in regional, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 13 female, 15 male

What people say:

"Sensitive, sympathetic and compelling.... An absorbing study in human disintegration." — New York Post

"So absorbing that it became a personal experience, and not just a skillful piece for the theatre. One of the beautiful plays of our time." — New York Daily News

About the Playwright:

Sidney Michaels (1927-2011) was an American playwright and screenwriter. His work drew Tony nominations in three seasons running during the 1960s. He also wrote the 1968 film The Night They Raided Minsky's.