Primarily known as a poet and writer of stories and reminiscences, Dylan Thomas also has considerable fame as a dramatist because of the single work Under Milk Wood, a play originally written for radio broadcast. Although it is devoid of dramatic structure, Thomas's work has met with both critical and popular acclaim since its first stage productions. After its West End opening at the New Theatre on 20 September 1956, Under Milk Wood ran for seven months and has been revived regularly on both sides of the Atlantic ever since. In 1954, four months after Thomas's death, the play was published and sold 25,000 copies within two months. The book, which was quickly translated into more than a dozen languages, has remained in print. An abridged radio recording by the BBC won the international Italia Prize for 1954. The Caedmon recording of the YM-YWHA reading of 14 May 1953 in New York, which featured the...