UNDER THE RAGING MOON - by Peter Thabit Jones
UNDER THE RAGING MOON
(One Night with Dylan Thomas in Greenwich Village)
A new drama in Four Acts by Swansea poet and dramatist Peter Thabit Jones, which premiered at the Dylan Thomas Birthplace, Swansea, Wales, in December 2022 and was performed at the 2024 Swansea Fringe Festival.
October, 1953. Dylan Thomas, unwell and harassed by personal problems, is on his fourth and fatal visit to America, organised by John Malcolm Brinnin, Director at the YM & YWHA Poetry Center in New York.
Dylan, accompanied by Liz Reitell, Brinnin’s assistant, with whom he started an affair on his third visit, is in a taxi on the way to Greenwich Village. Since his arrival in the city, she has been trying to keep him away from his ‘hangers-on’ and to focus him on the upcoming two performances of his Under Milk Wood at the Kaufmann Auditorium. Unhappy and upset by his general behaviour, she stops the taxi near her apartment in the Village and abandons him to do whatever he pleases.
In this imagined scenario, he stops at some bars where he mainly meets people unknown to him. The final bar is the White Horse Tavern, his favourite drinking place in the Village.
Note: In the early hours of 3rd November, Dylan would leave the Chelsea Hotel and an upset Liz. His last-ever drinking spree would lead to him being rushed to St Vincent’s Hospital on November 5th, where he would go into a coma and die on November 9th.
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The book version of the drama is available from www.seventhquarrypress.com
‘This is a wonderfully conceived drama. Pacy, full of richly drawn characters, not least of all Dylan Thomas himself, whose inimitable voice is so convincing and immediate, it’s like sitting across a table from him. A wistful, poignant work, crackling with life’ —Celia Reynolds, Welsh novelist, author of Finding Henry Applebee, HarperCollins Publishers
A powerful and thoughtful piece, which really brings to life the ‘human’ Dylan aside from the Dylan of myth. Highly recommend it! —Rebecca Lowe, Welsh poet
I am quite stunned at the import of your drama. It is as though you inhabited Dylan, or he inhabited you, to write this drama. —Patricia Holt, American Literary Advisor
‘Under the Raging Moon’ is indeed an awesome play.
Transcreation of the last days of Dylan Thomas s life is not so easy.
With conversation perfect and poignant plot that is real but also imaginary, you have created a masterpiece. —Mandira Ghosh, poet of India and a leading member of The Poetry Society, India
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Peter Thabit Jones has authored sixteen books. He has participated in festivals and conferences in America and Europe and is an annual writer-in-residence in Big Sur, California. A recipient of many awards, including the Eric Gregory Award for Poetry (The Society of Authors, London) and the Homer: European Medal of Poetry and Art, two of his dramas for the stage have premiered in America. His opera libretti for Luxembourg composer Albena Petrovic Vratchanska have premiered at the Philarmonie Luxembourg, the National Opera House Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, the Theatre National Du Luxembourg and the Sofia National Opera and Ballet, Sofia, Bulgaria. Further information: www.peterthabitjones.com
