Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold will mark the centenary of Welsh writer Dylan Thomas’ birth by staging Under Milk Wood as its opening production of 2014.

Artistic director Terry Hands will direct the anniversary production which runs from February 6-March 8.

Acclaimed Welsh actor Owen Teale returns to the Mold stage, joining a company of 13 to play First Voice.

After opening at Clwyd Theatr Cymru, this production will tour Wales and England for five months during 2014, followed by a UK and world tour, beginning in north America in the autumn, to mark the centenary of Dylan Thomas’s birth in 1914.  

2014 also marks 60 years since the play was first produced in Britain, as a radio play by the BBC in January 1954.

Under Milk Wood is a work of genius, ripe with vitality, rich in humour and populated by sublime, eccentric, enchanting characters.

Come to Llareggub, a small Welsh town by the sea. Meet blind Captain Cat, Mog Edwards and his sweetheart Miss Price, Sinbad Sailor, Dai Bread, Polly Garter, Nogood Boyo and Lord Cut Glass.

Walk along Coronation Street, Cockle Row and Donkey Street, down to the little fishing harbour and back to Milk Wood.

Dylan Thomas explores their lives, hopes and thoughts in the dreams of a night and the rhythm of a day.

Both a play and a poem, written from the heart, it offers an unforgettable journey into the roots of language and the soul of Wales.

Tony Award-winner Owen Teale takes the role of First Voice. He has recently starred alongside Zoë Wanamaker in the hit West End production of Passion Play by Peter Nichols.

He was Ser Alliser Thorne in the HBO TV adaptation of Game of Thrones.

Owen achieved fame as John O’Brien, the hero in Catherine Cookson’s The Fifteen Streets, both in the West End and on TV.

He played Conor in the BBC series Ballykissangel and was Dai in the comedy drama Stella by Ruth Jones on Sky 1. Other TV roles include Torchwood and Murphy’s Law.

On the stage he played Torvald in the ground breaking production of A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, which was a huge hit both in the West End and on Broadway and for which he won a Tony as Best Featured Actor.

An associate of Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Owen was seen in Mold as Macbeth, Adam in The Four Seasons by Arnold Wesker and Burghley in Mary Stuart by Friedrich Schiller, a new version by Mike Poulton.

Owen’s films include The Cherry Orchard, directed by Michael Cacoyannis, in which he starred alongside Alan Bates and Charlotte Rampling.

Owen Teale joins the Clwyd Theatr Cymru Welsh ensemble company, with many familiar faces from hit productions in Mold including Christian Patterson (Aristocrats, Glengarry Glen Ross, As You Like It), Steven Meo (The Taming of the Shrew), Kai Owen (The Winslow Boy, Aristocrats) and Ifan Huw Dafydd (The Taming of the Shrew, Arden of Faversham).

This new production of Under Milk Wood, directed by Terry Hands, marks the centenary of Dylan Thomas' birth in 1914 and the 60th anniversary of the play's British première.

Terry Hands’s recent acclaimed productions include The Winslow Boy by Terence Rattigan and As You Like It by William Shakespeare at Clwyd Theatr Cymru.

For booking details, call 0845 330 3565 or visit www.clwyd-theatr-cymru.co.uk.