PAST SHOWS - RETURN JOURNEY written & performed by Bob Kingdom 1993


	From words by Dylan Thomas Performed by Bob Kingdom Directed by Anthony Hopkins Played Assembly Rooms Edinburgh 1993, 2003 Winner: Scotsman Fringe First 1993 OTHER BOB KINGDOM SHOW INFO: THE TRUMAN CAPOTE TALK SHOW ELSA EDGAR THE PART OF BOB KINGDOM WILL BE PLAYED BY AN ACTOR A chance to experience the electrifying presence of Dylan Thomas's last lecture tour, the last before the White Horse Pub and the legendary seventeenth whiskey. Kingdom's portrayal of his bardic countryman is tangibly heartfelt, without an inkling of actorliness; audiences could swear it was the poet himself on stage. Blending the stories and the poetry with incisive comments on the nature of performing, of audiences, and of the American touring circuit, Thomas (through Kingdom) takes his audience through Wales, past and present, through the natural world, to the one that lies after. Under Anthony Hopkins' minimalist direction, the conduit between the stage and the seating opens like a lock gate, bringing both performer and audience together in appreciation of the beauty, the humour, the passion and wit of the words of this writer.

"The dry, wry, mischievous manner Kingdom absorbs from Dylan for the tales is bewitching. I could have listened to his spell-binding, word-winding wizardry there for hours." (The Times) "He weaves a mellifluous vocal spell fully equal to Thomas' verbal one, and creates an actor/author partnership to match the very greatest." (Evening Standard) "One of this year's highlights" (The Guardian, 1991) "Bob Kingdom seems to have totally suppressed his own being in his search for union with Dylan Thomas... He has perfect command of the rhythms of language, of the timing of those magically original,, devastating, unsettling or wittily displaced lines and phrases. The delivery and writing merge into one perfectly balanced, beautifully turned performance" (The Scotsman) "Spell-binding stuff" (The Times) "Captivating and tireless... Kingdom captured Thomas' curious combination of lush lyricism and dry with without a moment of uncertainty." (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) "wit, and feeling, and rollicking comedy, and even beauty" (The New Yorker) "what falls from his lips is a series of word pictures, nearly breakneck in their spill, but of such startling clarity that the mind spins along with them and miraculously keeps up. ... The stage is alive with characters, all of them tumbling out of richly descriptive prose to be perfectly captured in Kingdom's shift of voice and attitude." (Boston Globe)