0:00:03 > 0:00:05"Do not go gentle into that good night."
0:00:05 > 0:00:07I think he's dead. He's buried.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10And should be left alone to lie in peace.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14Dylan Thomas. World famous Welsh poet, playwright
0:00:14 > 0:00:18and legendary bon viveur would have been 100 years old this year.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20But so what?
0:00:20 > 0:00:24Who actually cares about celebrating the long gone life of another
0:00:24 > 0:00:27dead white poet?
0:00:27 > 0:00:31Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35Well, this living, breathing, celebrated black poet does.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38I've always thought of him as the Bob Marley of Wales.
0:00:38 > 0:00:43Benjamin Zephaniah has come to Swansea, the ugly lovely town
0:00:43 > 0:00:47of Dylan Thomas's birth, on a mission improbable.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50I think Dylan Thomas has been hijacked
0:00:50 > 0:00:52and I want to give him back to the people.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54And after a few false starts...
0:00:54 > 0:00:56Dylan Thomas.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59Dylan Thomas, what are you on about? It's not looking good.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03..Benjamin pitched up in Townhill, one of Swansea's toughest states...
0:01:03 > 0:01:06It was the joyriding capital of Britain.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09..where his dream is to help the people of Townhill
0:01:09 > 0:01:11find their inner poets.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13To begin near the beginning.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16In a house not right in the head.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20And then write and perform their own 21st-century Under Milk Wood.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24Poets, all of you, we'll sing on our own.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29But with just one month to get their work from the page to the stage...
0:01:29 > 0:01:31I sense that you have it in you.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33Well...
0:01:33 > 0:01:35A boob job off the NHS.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39..can Benjamin get them dancing to his tune?
0:01:41 > 0:01:43Or come the big night...
0:01:43 > 0:01:45Lovely, ugly.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49Will they be stepping on each other's toes?
0:01:49 > 0:01:53Let's go nail this then, eh? Let's nail it to the fence.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02The Townhill estate in ugly lovely Swansea.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07It's the morning after a night before that will go
0:02:07 > 0:02:09down in local legend.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13It was the night world famous poet Benjamin Zephaniah wowed
0:02:13 > 0:02:18a packed West End social club more used to bingo and drag artists
0:02:18 > 0:02:22with the poetry of Dylan Thomas.
0:02:22 > 0:02:27Rage.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30Against the dying of the light.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34And then followed it up with unusual
0:02:34 > 0:02:37but productive auditions for the people of Townhill.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41Be nice to your turkeys this Christmas
0:02:41 > 0:02:44because turkeys just want to have fun.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49The aim, for Benjamin and his team to find enough locals willing
0:02:49 > 0:02:53to try and write their own 21st- century version of Under Milk Wood.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56And then maybe to perform it on stage.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59SHE RAPS: Home comes Dorian, knapsack on his back.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01Hiya, Mam, dirty grundies in my sack!
0:03:02 > 0:03:04I know it so well.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09With well over 50 people turning up to last night's auditions,
0:03:09 > 0:03:14Benjamin has plenty of raw talent to work with but before his fresh
0:03:14 > 0:03:17recruits even think of picking up their own pens, he wants them to try
0:03:17 > 0:03:23and get to know, love and understand the work of Dylan Thomas himself.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25No easy task.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31A lot of people do think that poetry is pretentious, that it's
0:03:31 > 0:03:37only written by middle-class people for middle-class people.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40But I've always loved Dylan Thomas's work.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42Ever since it was introduced to me.
0:03:42 > 0:03:47My thing coming here was to kind of get other people to love his work.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51But with such a diverse and colourful cast of people to try
0:03:51 > 0:03:55and get engaged with Dylan Thomas and his poetry
0:03:55 > 0:03:57where does Benjamin begin?
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Well, he decides to start with the last person you'd expect
0:04:00 > 0:04:04to read any poetry, Christopher Dolphin, AKA, Dolly.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08The rough diamond plasterer who made a big impression the night before.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12Thank you, Benjamin. Absolute legend. Awesome poetry.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15He was a poet and he didn't know it! What a nice guy!
0:04:15 > 0:04:20Benjamin reckons Dolly might also be a poet who doesn't know it.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22But is he right? What a nice guy.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28Townhill born and bred, Dolly went to the estate's Dylan Thomas
0:04:28 > 0:04:32community school but learnt very little about Dylan.
0:04:32 > 0:04:33Or anything else.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36School life was a battle for me.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38I was always late and I was joking,
0:04:38 > 0:04:42never took any teachers serious.
0:04:42 > 0:04:43The clown of the class.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49I didn't like school, like.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52Leaving at 15 with no qualifications,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55Dolly took up plastering, not poetry.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58But on site there's no doubting his natural gift of the gab.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02I had an interview with the social, they tried to stop my incapacity benefit. Can you believe that?
0:05:02 > 0:05:05Quite a funny guy, as it happens. Never dull moment with him.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09Well said, Grim Boy! Well said! Good effort. Valiant effort.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12I'm a very vocal person.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14I don't hold back, like.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18Coming to work, eff and blind, shout, scream, spill water, get dirty.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21Bang your elbow, cut your head, spitting and cursing
0:05:21 > 0:05:23and effing and jeffing.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25Raaaaar!
0:05:25 > 0:05:27Living the dream, bro. Absolutely living the dream.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30I've been told, like, I've got a way with words.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34I never really paid much attention. I am what I am, like. You know?
0:05:34 > 0:05:36Look at my job.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39All I do every single day of my working life is look at a wall.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43How repetitive is that? Just looking at a wall. Every single day, walls.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47I've got up in front of the boys in a pub,
0:05:47 > 0:05:49and "roar", and a banter,
0:05:49 > 0:05:51and perhaps that could be a form of poetry.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54# Uncle, Uncle Keith, Uncle Keith Super Uncle Keith... #
0:05:54 > 0:05:58With regards of...being a...
0:05:58 > 0:06:00A poet, really? I don't know, like.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03Mate, you've gone to the dogs. Absolute embarrassment.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05Oh, my sister's cat!
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Perhaps I do put myself down, I haven't got enough confidence
0:06:08 > 0:06:11with regards of other aspects of life and whatever.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15Confidence of pulling women, I couldn't pull a muscle. I'm poor.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19A bit of a train crash. Ah...
0:06:19 > 0:06:21Dolly might think himself a wreck
0:06:21 > 0:06:24but Benjamin hears poetry in his soul
0:06:24 > 0:06:27and challenges Dolly to visit Townhill Library
0:06:27 > 0:06:29and take out some Dylan Thomas.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32For Dolly, a journey into the unknown.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36Good afternoon, lovely. Have you got anything about Dylan Thomas?
0:06:36 > 0:06:39We've got collect poems by him
0:06:39 > 0:06:42and sort of his life as well.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45We've also got this one, A Child's Christmas In Wales.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48That's one of his most famous ones. Is it? Yes.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51I'm a bit of a Dylan Thomas virgin,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54to be quite honest with you, on reading up on his literature and any of his work.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59There is a lot of Dylan Thomas.
0:06:59 > 0:07:04These are due back now in three weeks. There we are. Lovely job.
0:07:04 > 0:07:05Fabulous. Cheers.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11"A stranger has come to share my room in the house not right in the head."
0:07:11 > 0:07:14If my mates knew I had a day off, I went to the library,
0:07:14 > 0:07:18"Can I have four books on Dylan Thomas, please?" Nice one, mate, cheers.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20I'll sit in my van and start reciting Dylan Thomas.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22Are you serious? Are you serious?
0:07:22 > 0:07:26Yet she deludes with the walking nightmarish room
0:07:26 > 0:07:28At large as the dead
0:07:28 > 0:07:32Or rides the imagined oceans of the male wards.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36It's got to be about a bird. Some crazy-assed woman, no doubt.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38It's a good read. It is a good read.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40Bottom line, I think Dylan Thomas is a bit of a legend.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43I was intrigued by the story when he first went to the States,
0:07:43 > 0:07:47and he went to an Hollywood party, Marilyn Monroe was there.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52And obviously he got... Had a few drinks, what have you.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55Straight onto the prettiest girl, typical Swansea boy,
0:07:55 > 0:07:59could even say he was from Townhill. That's one of us.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01Lo and behold then,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04gets kicked out of the party for allegedly peeing in a plant pot.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08Legend. Absolutely total legend. Can't fault him. Brilliant.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11There's a bit of Dylan Thomas in us all, I think.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15There's definitely a bit in me, without a shadow of a doubt.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17Whilst Dolly found an immediate connection with Dylan,
0:08:17 > 0:08:21a quick trip to the library isn't going to work for all of Benjamin's
0:08:21 > 0:08:26cast, which is why Benjamin's next challenge is very different.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30Dolly's best friend Paul Simpson is more a pugilist than a poet.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33Far more comfortable throwing hooks than reading books.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35And when Paul turned up at the auditions,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38he also told Benjamin about a condition
0:08:38 > 0:08:41he thought would prevent him from being part of the project.
0:08:41 > 0:08:46I'm dyslexic. I can read but I can't spell stuff I can read.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49Don't let dyslexia hold you back. I'm a poet. Yeah.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51I'm a professor of literature
0:08:51 > 0:08:54and I'm very dyslexic. It's weird, innit?
0:08:54 > 0:08:55Let me tell you, brother.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58Dyslexia has nothing to do with your ideas or
0:08:58 > 0:09:02the level of your intelligence. Don't let that hold you back.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04I don't think I was very good at school
0:09:04 > 0:09:07because obviously I had a problem with reading and writing
0:09:07 > 0:09:10and it made it hard for me and I just got frustrated with it
0:09:10 > 0:09:14and then I let myself slip and I messed around quite a lot,
0:09:14 > 0:09:17I had a warning, I had a warning and then they kicked me out of school.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19No other school would take me.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22Paul and Benjamin don't just have dyslexia in common.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25Benjamin is also a keen amateur boxer,
0:09:25 > 0:09:28and to help Paul with his lack of confidence when it comes to the
0:09:28 > 0:09:32written word, he prescribes a technique he often uses himself.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36He's going to introduce Paul to Dylan Thomas's poems through an iPod.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41"For my sake sail and never look back, said the looking land.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45"Sails drank the wind and white as milk
0:09:45 > 0:09:48"He sped into the drinking dark."
0:09:48 > 0:09:51It's easier to remember something you've heard than to remember
0:09:51 > 0:09:54something you've read. I know it sounds stupid.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56And putting pen to paper made me...
0:09:56 > 0:10:02Bits of poetry out of this I could probably put into my own words.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06"Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
0:10:06 > 0:10:10"About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green..."
0:10:10 > 0:10:11By happy coincidence,
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Paul, a scaffolder, is working in Laugharne.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16And takes the opportunity to visit the boathouse where Dylan
0:10:16 > 0:10:19wrote many of his most famous works.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23Yeah, it's nice. And as it goes, you've got a lovely view.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26What more does a man want when he's doing his poetry, innit?
0:10:26 > 0:10:30I could see myself sitting here and chilling and maybe drawing.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32Definitely.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39Paul also visits Dylan's grave.
0:10:40 > 0:10:47"In memory of Dylan Thomas, born October 27th, 1914.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50"Died November 9th, 1953."
0:10:52 > 0:10:56Dylan's early death touches home with Paul.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59It's a waste, innit, when you think about what he's done
0:10:59 > 0:11:02and what he's touched and what he's left behind.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04I know what it's like to lose people
0:11:04 > 0:11:07and at a very young age.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11I've lost a mate, 15, another mate 16, 17
0:11:11 > 0:11:16and then another mate, he was about 20 when he died.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20Some of them died not their fault. Some of them died their faults.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23It's just a cruel world we live in.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26They take the good and leave us with all the bad.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28That's the way I look at it, anyway.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37Benjamin's next challenge is how does he get 26-year-old
0:11:37 > 0:11:41mother-of-five Charlene Brookes to engage with Dylan?
0:11:43 > 0:11:46Charlene had really impressed Benjamin at the auditions
0:11:46 > 0:11:49with her alarmingly frank honesty and humour.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51I got sterilised the same time as he come out.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55I had a Caesarean, as he come out I got sterilised the same time. No more.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58Definitely no more. Definitely.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00Charlene strikes Benjamin as being a character
0:12:00 > 0:12:03straight off the pages of Under Milk Wood.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06But she knows nothing of Dylan and cares even less,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09as during her time at the local Dylan Thomas school,
0:12:09 > 0:12:12she wasn't exactly teacher's pet.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15I was really bad behaved in school, believe it or not.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19You were a naughty girl? Yeah, I was the worst pupil, probably.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24But I still left with ten GCSEs. Yeah, it sort of all went in.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27I can't remember myself listening but it sort of went in somewhere.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31It must of. It must of.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35Can I just ask you, how old were you when you had first child? 18.
0:12:35 > 0:12:3818? Yeah. I had two in one year.
0:12:38 > 0:12:43My oldest two, there's only ten weeks between them.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45I had them really close together.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48They stay the same age for a month every year.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54You come over as a very positive, optimistic person.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56But it must've been tough at some times.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00Of course. It was tough from the beginning. Right from the beginning.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02Nobody knows what's going to happen,
0:13:02 > 0:13:06nobody knows which way life's going to turn out.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09People make mistakes so you've got to overcome, haven't you?
0:13:09 > 0:13:13I think you would be good at reading poetry and performing poetry
0:13:13 > 0:13:14because you've got the character.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17I'd give it a go. I'd give anything a go.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20Why not? Everybody lives once.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23Go, go, go! Louise, I'm going to fall.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26One thing that might convince Charlene that Benjamin's
0:13:26 > 0:13:29project could really happen is that Townhill is
0:13:29 > 0:13:34a lot like Llaregub - the fictional community in Under Milk Wood.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36Everyone lives in each other's pockets
0:13:36 > 0:13:39and everyone knows everyone else's business.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41People round here, if they gotta know something about you,
0:13:41 > 0:13:43they've gotta know something about you.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45I learned stuff about myself I didn't even know before!
0:13:45 > 0:13:47You know what I mean?!
0:13:47 > 0:13:51By the time something gets back to you, I didn't know that about myself.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54So, Benjamin has encouraged Charlene to take
0:13:54 > 0:13:57the words of Dylan into her everyday life -
0:13:57 > 0:14:00including the project where she does voluntary work.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04To begin near the beginning. And so on.
0:14:04 > 0:14:10"What limping invisible down the sloeback, slow, black, crowblack fishing-boat bobbing sea."
0:14:10 > 0:14:13I didn't make sense of that...did I? Yeah.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16Aw, imagine reading a full book of that.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18You'd confuse yourself, wouldn't you?
0:14:18 > 0:14:22When I first heard about poetry, me doing poetry...
0:14:22 > 0:14:26I said I thought I'd give it a go but it's good now. It's really good.
0:14:31 > 0:14:37For all the young mums, scaffolders and plasterers that Benjamin is keen to pull into his project,
0:14:37 > 0:14:41there's one extraordinary character he cannot wait to see again.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44The one that I haven't stopped thinking about is
0:14:44 > 0:14:46the 82-year-old granny. To me, she was amazing.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49SHE RAPS: All you mums out there, darling little Billy
0:14:49 > 0:14:52Things get to change when they get an act willy.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55LAUGHTER
0:14:58 > 0:15:02Rapping granny Josephine Phillips grew up in Swansea
0:15:02 > 0:15:05when Dylan was writing his most famous piece.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09Under Milk Wood is full of lots of characters. So real.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11It's so real! Do you recognise some of those characters?
0:15:11 > 0:15:15I do recognise quite a few of the characters there. Yes, I really do.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19The minister, Eli Jenkins' Prayer.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21I recognise him. I spent all my life in church.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25And can you recite some of Eli Jenkins' Prayer? Yes.
0:15:25 > 0:15:31"Every morning, when I wake, Dear Lord, a little prayer I make
0:15:31 > 0:15:38"Please to keep your lovely eye on all poor creatures born to die
0:15:38 > 0:15:45"And to the sun we now will bow and say goodbye but just for now."
0:15:45 > 0:15:46Beautiful.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49And as you said that, somebody scored a goal!
0:15:55 > 0:16:01Talk of Thomas also prompts fond memories of Josephine's youth.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03Josephine, to me these just look like a block of flats
0:16:03 > 0:16:08but to you this was a very special place a long time ago. It really was.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10It was the Townhill ballroom,
0:16:10 > 0:16:14and this was where I spent many, many happy hours
0:16:14 > 0:16:17dancing - ballroom dancing.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20And the music started, and we started to dance,
0:16:20 > 0:16:24you were in a different world.
0:16:24 > 0:16:29I've got it. You're a great teacher, you know?
0:16:29 > 0:16:31Amazing. Yeah.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33Now sing to me, sing to me, sing to me!
0:16:33 > 0:16:39# Who's taking you home tonight
0:16:39 > 0:16:45# After the dance is through?
0:16:45 > 0:16:52# Who's going to hold you tight
0:16:52 > 0:16:57# And whisper, I love you, I do?
0:16:57 > 0:16:58Oh, my goodness!
0:17:00 > 0:17:04OK? Not only was I taught how to dance
0:17:04 > 0:17:06but I was serenaded!
0:17:13 > 0:17:17Benjamin has now spent a week on Townhill inspiring the community
0:17:17 > 0:17:21to engage with Dylan Thomas and getting to know them as individuals.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24And he's encouraged by what he's seen.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27All the people I've met seem to be genuine people.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31I never get the feeling that any of them are faking,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34acting up for me or the cameras or anything like that.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38When Benjamin first arrived, his aim was to get Townhill
0:17:38 > 0:17:42writing their own 21st-century Under Milk Wood.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46But does he really think Townhill is up to the task?
0:17:46 > 0:17:48There's possibilities here.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52When you start to write, what is your research? It's yourself.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57Your research is your neighbours. That is your raw material.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01Your raw material is your life and you want it as raw as it can be.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03'We all have a story to tell,
0:18:03 > 0:18:05'and interestingly enough,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08'the people who live on estates, the people who have suffered,
0:18:08 > 0:18:11'the people who have had broken marriages and broken relationships
0:18:11 > 0:18:13'and run-ins with the law,'
0:18:13 > 0:18:15those are the people that make interesting stories.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18Those are the people that the educated people have to research
0:18:18 > 0:18:20and study to make their stories to put on television.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27Now that Benjamin knows he's got such people on board,
0:18:27 > 0:18:31he's ready to take his raw recruits to the next phase of the plan -
0:18:31 > 0:18:33putting pen to paper.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35He's organised a writing workshop
0:18:35 > 0:18:39for some of his most enthusiastic volunteers within the hallowed walls
0:18:39 > 0:18:41of Swansea's Dylan Thomas Centre.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43Thank you, everybody, for coming.
0:18:43 > 0:18:44Benjamin is going to use
0:18:44 > 0:18:49Dylan's most famous poem, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night,
0:18:49 > 0:18:52to try and fan their creative flames.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56"And you, my father, there on the sad height
0:18:56 > 0:19:00"Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03"Do not go gentle into that good night.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05"Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
0:19:05 > 0:19:10This last paragraph, it catches me even hearing it.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12My father was on the sad height.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15He was on a platform before they took him into the crem
0:19:15 > 0:19:20and when I hear that... I see.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22..you know, it kind of just...
0:19:22 > 0:19:24It's amazing what words can do.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28Yeah. Like, I'm not sad, like, it's just emotional.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30And we use words every day
0:19:30 > 0:19:32and sometimes we just let them go past us.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35That's the great thing about a poet, he just takes his words...
0:19:35 > 0:19:38There's no big fancy words here, really. No.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40We're just looking at the order of them. Yeah.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43And they're having an effect on us. It's amazing, innit?
0:19:43 > 0:19:45Yeah, it's amazing.
0:19:45 > 0:19:50Strong, like. It's powerful, like, you know? Very, very powerful.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53And with the power of Thomas to inspire them,
0:19:53 > 0:19:55Benjamin encourages everyone
0:19:55 > 0:19:58to pour moments from their own lives onto the page.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Julia in particular relishes the challenge.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05This is, like, a proper emosh day, this.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08It's, like, really interesting,
0:20:08 > 0:20:13taking apart something and trying to write something totally different
0:20:13 > 0:20:16but with all that sort of playing around in your head.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20I'm just thrilled to have the opportunity to sit down and write
0:20:20 > 0:20:23and I've never done anything like this before.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25This is like going back to school but in the best sense.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29This is like going back to school on a day you wanted to go to school,
0:20:29 > 0:20:31without the fags and dinner tickets.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33LAUGHTER
0:20:33 > 0:20:36And this is, like, the best day for, like, ages.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39"No discriminations, seduction and soothing
0:20:39 > 0:20:41"Why can't you see her for the devil she is?
0:20:41 > 0:20:44"No discriminations, seduction and soothing
0:20:44 > 0:20:47"She was your master, she was your queen."
0:20:47 > 0:20:48Oh, my God!
0:20:48 > 0:20:53OK. Mine's called Hiraeth. It's a Welsh word, it means longing.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55It's about Nai, who's my grandson.
0:20:55 > 0:21:01"I think of you, Nai, each day. I came to you, Nai, at birth.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03"I hope for you, Nai, the best."
0:21:03 > 0:21:06"Your words as accurate as bile.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09"A smile cantankerous as a vacuum of unfulfilment.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11"A sneer, a masquerade."
0:21:11 > 0:21:15"The cwtching and holding we should have done
0:21:15 > 0:21:19"Was left to others in that cold hospital room."
0:21:19 > 0:21:21"I wish for you, Nai, with me.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24"I'm proud of you, Nai, in Wales.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27"I long to cwtch you, Nai, today."
0:21:27 > 0:21:31"I am here, I am there. Sometimes it seems I don't care.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33"But I come from a place where the grass is green.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36"It's the greenest grass you will ever see.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40"I will not tell you lies but I can tell you many tales
0:21:40 > 0:21:44"because I am an honest bad boy plasterer from South Wales.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48"And I assure you that I will not, without a doubt,
0:21:48 > 0:21:50"go gentle into that good night,
0:21:50 > 0:21:55"and I will, for sure, rage, rage against the dying of the light."
0:21:57 > 0:22:00That's like perfection! Wonderful.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02You are clever. Pfft!
0:22:02 > 0:22:06I wouldn't go that far! Thick as pea soup. Um...
0:22:08 > 0:22:10Brilliant. It is what it is, sort of thing, you know?
0:22:10 > 0:22:12Do you write poetry normally, Dol?
0:22:12 > 0:22:14No, not at all, absolutely never ever.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18How many poems have you written? One. Yay!
0:22:18 > 0:22:20That doesn't read like a first poem.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24It almost doesn't even read like a first draft. Well...
0:22:24 > 0:22:28That's the truth. I'm not just saying that because I like you.
0:22:28 > 0:22:33It is the truth. You know, it is what it is. It is what it is!
0:22:33 > 0:22:36I don't know which other way you want to sort of dress up
0:22:36 > 0:22:40or put fluffy cushions round it. It is what it is
0:22:40 > 0:22:44and, you know, it's... Brilliant.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46And thank you, guys.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50Benjamin is so impressed by Dolly's first ever poem
0:22:50 > 0:22:53that he asks him to meet him at Dylan Thomas's house
0:22:53 > 0:22:55in Cwmdonkin Drive. Here we are.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59Benjamin wants to say something that will, unbelievably,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02leave Dolly almost lost for words.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05I'm telling you, right, I'm a well-travelled person
0:23:05 > 0:23:11and I want to hear what you have to say about your life here,
0:23:11 > 0:23:14and I'm not trying to sound grand or trying to show off
0:23:14 > 0:23:16or trying to big you up.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19I sense that you have it in you. Really? Really.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23I think you have it in you, and I don't say that to everybody.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27Because everybody has a story in them. Course they do.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31But a lot of people, you don't want to hear it. I want to hear yours.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33Well, that's...
0:23:34 > 0:23:38Get an agent, man, get an agent. Mate, that's overwhelming.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40Seriously. It's overwhelming.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44Take the time to think about it.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47You should try writing a few poems, getting on stage and saying them.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50They have open mic nights and stuff like that.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54Maybe keeping a diary, saying what it's like at work - whatever it is.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56Yeah. So, you know,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59there's some times your children would be thinking...
0:23:59 > 0:24:02I'm presuming that you have children. Yeah, yeah.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05Your children would be thinking, "What is my dad thinking now?"
0:24:05 > 0:24:08Later on they may read a bit of your poetry and go,
0:24:08 > 0:24:11"Wow! That's what he was thinking." Do you know what?
0:24:14 > 0:24:16That's a good shout, you know?
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Yeah. Obviously I'm going through a bit of a mission with...
0:24:19 > 0:24:24I have got a little boy, we've split, I've split up, sort of thing.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26So there's a bit of an issue of
0:24:26 > 0:24:29seeing him more than I want to and stuff.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32It rips you up. It's terrible.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34But like you say,
0:24:34 > 0:24:38I have penned a couple of letters for him to say, you know...
0:24:38 > 0:24:39Write poems for him.
0:24:39 > 0:24:44He may turn around one day and say, "Daddy, where were you when...this?"
0:24:44 > 0:24:48and you can show him a poem and say... "That's where I was, look."
0:24:48 > 0:24:52It could be a place physically, could be a place emotionally.
0:24:52 > 0:24:53Could be anything.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56Don't be afraid to get in touch with yourself, you know?
0:24:56 > 0:25:00Oh, man, that's... I can't...
0:25:00 > 0:25:03Honest to God, it's incredible. That's the way it is.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09Dolly - there's something about him which I think is yet to come out
0:25:09 > 0:25:13and I think it'll come out once he starts writing more and thinking.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16Once you start to think about what you're going to write,
0:25:16 > 0:25:18then you tend to write thoughtfully.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20Sounds like I'm going round and round there,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24but that's what poets do - poets talk to themselves through the pen.
0:25:27 > 0:25:28And talking through their pens
0:25:28 > 0:25:33is exactly what Benjamin needs his Townhill poets to do next.
0:25:33 > 0:25:34So with help from his team,
0:25:34 > 0:25:38he sets about encouraging the community to talk about incidents
0:25:38 > 0:25:40and characters from their own lives.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43It's "Town'ill". It's not "Town-hill!"
0:25:44 > 0:25:47And the pens and the processors are soon working overtime.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52And a Dylanesque portrait of life on "Town'ill" begins to emerge.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55Hiya. Right. This is our national park.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59Their own Llaregub, their own 21st-century Under Milk Wood.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02I wondered if it rained this much when Dylan Thomas was here.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05It was always raining in his heart, love.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07And as the stories emerge,
0:26:07 > 0:26:11Benjamin realises that Townhill and Llaregub are so alike,
0:26:11 > 0:26:14he should encourage everyone to write modern takes on original
0:26:14 > 0:26:19Under Milk Wood scenes - scenes such as the gossiping neighbours.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24Poor Mrs Waldo. What she puts up with. Never should have married!
0:26:24 > 0:26:28If she didn't have to! Same as her mother. There's a husband for you.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31Bad as his father. Carrying on. With that Mrs Beattie Morris.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36Up in the quarry. And seen her baby?! It's got his nose!
0:26:36 > 0:26:38Oh, what will the neighbours say?
0:26:41 > 0:26:44Now, surely there's enough juicy gossip swirling around Townhill
0:26:44 > 0:26:48for someone to come up with a modern take on that original scene.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Everybody knows everybody. Everybody know everybody business?
0:26:51 > 0:26:53Everybody know how g'wan? Yeah!
0:26:53 > 0:26:54There's always somebody
0:26:54 > 0:26:57chatting over the fence to somebody else about somebody else.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59It's part of life, gossiping.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03A bit of, "Have you seen her there? Did you hear about that?"
0:27:03 > 0:27:05No malice intended at all.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07Without naming names...
0:27:07 > 0:27:10I can't cos it's on camera, I can't! Right!
0:27:10 > 0:27:12Bra stuffed with socks...
0:27:12 > 0:27:15Benjamin challenges Charlene, Sharon and Amaryllis
0:27:15 > 0:27:17to sit in the church hall
0:27:17 > 0:27:21and write their own gossiping neighbours' scene - Townhill style.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23A boob job off the NHS... Yeah.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26Sleeping with all the married men in the village. There you are.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30Other things you could accuse her of? And the funnier this is, the better.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32Being pregnant and having chlamydia.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34THEY LAUGH
0:27:34 > 0:27:36Together.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Having crabs? Giving crabs to the man?
0:27:39 > 0:27:41This isn't going to work, Charlene.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45Having diseases? More STDs than GCSEs.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47I think you should not go any further!
0:27:47 > 0:27:50But once the libellous bits have been removed,
0:27:50 > 0:27:51and they've been joined by Julia,
0:27:51 > 0:27:57they write a scene set in Townhill's hairdresser's that is a scream.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59I saw La-Di-Da Jenny talking to her the other day.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01ALL: Bloody do-gooder.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05Oh, don't get me started now, right, faker than a Chanel bag from Turkey.
0:28:05 > 0:28:06Fake everything! Fake nails.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08Hair. Boobs. Tan.
0:28:08 > 0:28:09Car. Finance.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11ALL: Giving it the big one.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14Obviously it's about completely fictional people.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16She's got massive feet! Aye, she wears an eight
0:28:16 > 0:28:19but if she cut them toenails, she'd be a size six.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21'It's just, I don't know,'
0:28:21 > 0:28:24being a bit nosy and observing what's going on around you.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29Benjamin's successful challenge to the gossip girls
0:28:29 > 0:28:32galvanises the whole group,
0:28:32 > 0:28:34and soon, in small pockets all across Townhill,
0:28:34 > 0:28:39similar Under Milk Wood-inspired scenes are starting to take shape.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42Myfanwy Price! Mr Mog Edwards!
0:28:42 > 0:28:46I am a draper mad with love!
0:28:46 > 0:28:48In the nave of the local church,
0:28:48 > 0:28:52the unfulfilled love letters of Mog Edwards and Myfanwy Price
0:28:52 > 0:28:57inspire Vicky and Phill to write a modern-day virtual equivalent.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59Miss Francis Broadsheet,
0:28:59 > 0:29:02I am your sweet paperman.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04Can I be your Western Mail?
0:29:04 > 0:29:10Mr Roger Baker, I will bake you a batch of bara brith
0:29:10 > 0:29:15and whip your meringue into stiff peaks.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19I will knead you like you've never been kneaded before.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24That's, uh...a bit erotic!
0:29:24 > 0:29:26LAUGHTER
0:29:26 > 0:29:30I wasn't expecting that at all! Well, in a place of worship.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35Down the West End Social Club, Dolly and Paul's attempts
0:29:35 > 0:29:38to come up with a scene about the dignity of manual labour
0:29:38 > 0:29:41have descended into a bickering match over the artistic merits
0:29:41 > 0:29:44of Dolly's plastering. It's just a wall, mate.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48I've got to give that wall a life, mate. I've got to give it a life.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51I've got to bring it in. That wall's going to be painted.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54That wall's going to have a family portrait on it. Bugger off!
0:29:54 > 0:29:56You can't say that!
0:29:56 > 0:30:00Still, Nikki and Michael write down their rough poetic gems
0:30:00 > 0:30:03to add to the expanding script.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06As it goes, you are a star of it. Your prices are way, way up there.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10Now, me, a little four-by-four wall, "Come and plaster this for me."
0:30:10 > 0:30:14"Yeah, ?200." "?200?! I'll do it myself! No chance."
0:30:14 > 0:30:15You crack on and do it yourself
0:30:15 > 0:30:19and hang your clothes from that wall now nice and tidy, right?
0:30:22 > 0:30:25After two more weeks of graft and craft,
0:30:25 > 0:30:29and burning of the church hall candles, the Townhill team
0:30:29 > 0:30:34are beginning to stand their 21st- century Under Milk Wood on its feet.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36Pfft! Gangs of three. Don't be a bladder.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38Nails. Hair. Boobs. Tan.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41COUNTDOWN STYLE: Do-do, do-do, do-do-do, boom!
0:30:41 > 0:30:44Eight whole scenes have been scripted, all of them rich...
0:30:46 > 0:30:48..comic, and completely Dylan Thomas.
0:30:48 > 0:30:53I will melt your cheese and watch my rarebit bubble...
0:30:54 > 0:30:56But Benjamin senses that
0:30:56 > 0:31:01there's one key Dylan element missing from the mix - poignancy.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05Ach y fi! Ach y fi!
0:31:07 > 0:31:09Under Milk Wood is a comic masterpiece,
0:31:09 > 0:31:14but it's also laced with everyday heartaches, longings and loss.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19"Rosie Probert, 33 Duck Lane.
0:31:19 > 0:31:23"Come on up, boys. I'm dead."
0:31:24 > 0:31:27"Oh, my dead dear."
0:31:28 > 0:31:34# But I always think as we tumble into bed
0:31:34 > 0:31:41# Of little Willy Wee who is dead, dead, dead. #
0:31:41 > 0:31:43"Oh, isn't life a terrible thing?
0:31:43 > 0:31:44"Thank God."
0:31:46 > 0:31:50Whilst Benjamin has found plenty of poignancy on the real-life Townhill,
0:31:50 > 0:31:54it's an emotion currently missing from his emerging play.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57But he believes there is an answer
0:31:57 > 0:32:00and that it lies with 81-year-old Josephine.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02He's hoping her tales of lost love,
0:32:02 > 0:32:07music and dancing in Townhill's long-gone Tower Ballroom
0:32:07 > 0:32:10will give the show its missing poignancy.
0:32:10 > 0:32:131950s BALLROOM MUSIC
0:32:14 > 0:32:18There were the clothes I wore when I used to go ballroom dancing.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22If you wanted to look nice, then you either saved your money up
0:32:22 > 0:32:26or you borrowed it from somebody in the house and you paid them back
0:32:26 > 0:32:28at so much a week out of your wages.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31When you'd done that, then you'd borrow a little bit more,
0:32:31 > 0:32:32buy another outfit.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37Benjamin has a vision of the whole cast waltzing -
0:32:37 > 0:32:41something that would have been second nature to Dylan's generation.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45And Josephine's recollections of such times on Townhill hold the key.
0:32:45 > 0:32:50Once the music started, everything would be beautiful.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53All the girls in their beautiful dresses.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59Beautiful, beautiful memories. Everything was lovely.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05SHE SINGS ALONG: # We used to walk in the shade... #
0:33:05 > 0:33:08'There were plenty of chances at Tower Ballroom'
0:33:08 > 0:33:12but I won't let the cat out of the bag.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17A lady doesn't do that sort of thing!
0:33:17 > 0:33:21But that's precisely what Benjamin's hoping Josephine will do -
0:33:21 > 0:33:24let her Captain Cat out of the bag.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28There is Captain Cat, looking all wistful,
0:33:28 > 0:33:30looking out to sea.
0:33:31 > 0:33:38"You cosy love, my easy as easy, my true sweetheart..."
0:33:38 > 0:33:41In the most moving scene in Under Milk Wood,
0:33:41 > 0:33:46blind old seaman Captain Cat laments his lost youth, and his lost loves.
0:33:46 > 0:33:52"Knock twice, Jack, at the door of my grave
0:33:52 > 0:33:56"and ask for Rosie. Rosie Probert.
0:33:56 > 0:34:00"Look! Captain Cat is crying!
0:34:00 > 0:34:02"Captain Cat is crying.
0:34:02 > 0:34:06"Come back! Come back!"
0:34:06 > 0:34:09Benjamin's hoping that an equally moving scene can be written
0:34:09 > 0:34:14about Josephine's dancing days and partners of 60 years ago.
0:34:14 > 0:34:15What I used to love,
0:34:15 > 0:34:20at the end of the night it was called the Twilight Waltz. Right.
0:34:20 > 0:34:26And it was a song called Who's Taking You Home Tonight,
0:34:26 > 0:34:31and if somebody was lucky, somebody would be taking them home.
0:34:31 > 0:34:35And so Josephine works with writers Michael and Zoe to create a scene
0:34:35 > 0:34:38that uses words, music and dance.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41Well, I know where I am now, so that's fine!
0:34:41 > 0:34:44But Benjamin's hopes for a poignant and moving piece
0:34:44 > 0:34:48must first face some interesting Townhill choreography.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51Going to move on to what we've called the Ballroom Section,
0:34:51 > 0:34:54which is based on Josephine's wonderful stories
0:34:54 > 0:35:00about Tower Ballroom, and also it does require as a company
0:35:00 > 0:35:02for you to waltz. So those of you who can waltz, brilliant.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06Those of you who can't... We're going to try. ..it's time to learn.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09I can waltz with the best of them. I bet you can, Dol.
0:35:09 > 0:35:11So I'm going to go one, two,
0:35:11 > 0:35:14and the gent is going to do half a turn on our three.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19THEY LAUGH
0:35:19 > 0:35:22I'm going to have to do as the man tells me.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24Do as the man tells you! Right.
0:35:24 > 0:35:26An absolutely lovely waltz.
0:35:32 > 0:35:33And now we're talking!
0:35:33 > 0:35:35This is crazy stuff.
0:35:35 > 0:35:37'I used to be awesome at waltzing.'
0:35:37 > 0:35:41I've just gone to the dogs all of a sudden. I mean, you know...
0:35:42 > 0:35:46OK. We're going to have plan B.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50Oh, plan B sounds good! Ladies and gents, I think we might need plan B.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53Go back to the script, OK?
0:35:53 > 0:35:56Set the script that will go into this section
0:35:56 > 0:36:02and then we'll work out the best way of doing the waltzy bit. OK?
0:36:02 > 0:36:06The "waltzy bit" remains an artistic work in progress,
0:36:06 > 0:36:10as does much of the rest of Benjamin's ambitious epic.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13And with less than a week before show time, could it be
0:36:13 > 0:36:18that Benjamin and the Townhill team have simply been too ambitious?
0:36:18 > 0:36:20Well, Benjamin remains optimistic.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24I think the only thing that could go wrong really
0:36:24 > 0:36:26is just on-the-night nerves.
0:36:26 > 0:36:28It's just that it kind of all falls apart on the night
0:36:28 > 0:36:32and then the other thing is something domestic coming up
0:36:32 > 0:36:34and somebody can't make it or something like that.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36I guess that's a big worry.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39I'm really proud of them, seeing what they've done so far,
0:36:39 > 0:36:42but I wouldn't tell them that yet until it's finished.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47Never! But will it really be all right on the night?
0:36:47 > 0:36:50As next time, it's far from a full house for the final rehearsal.
0:36:50 > 0:36:54There's about eight missing at the moment so we can't even start it.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58In terms of stress levels, from one to ten, how are you? 12!
0:36:58 > 0:37:00Tensions in the team are rising.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03Charlene, you need to build a bridge and get over it. Sort yourself out.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05BLEEPED
0:37:05 > 0:37:07But there's no backing out now.
0:37:07 > 0:37:08Here we go.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11# Poets on the Hill! We'll sing on our own! #
0:37:11 > 0:37:14And as the sell-out audience arrive... It's full, innit?
0:37:14 > 0:37:16..nerves are jangling. I'm nervous as hell.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19It's worse than going into a boxing ring and fighting.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21Relax. Take a deep breath.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24And mission improbable is about to launch!
0:37:24 > 0:37:30The Poets On The Hill performance of Lovely Ugly!
0:37:30 > 0:37:33APPLAUSE