RAW MATERIAL : LLAREGGUB REVISITED was a National Theatre Wales production in collaboration with BBC Cymru Wales, Raw Material: Llareggub Revisited was devised by Marc Rees and writer Jon Tregenna—or, as Rees prefers to describe it, devised “in creative cahoots” with him.

Staged over three days in May, the production invited 600 people on a sensory treasure hunt through Laugharne: the Carmarthenshire township Dylan Thomas described as “the strangest town in Wales.”

Arriving as tourists for the fictional Thomas Centenary Tour, audiences were introduced to their guide, Roy Ebsworth-Williams of Super Elite Coaches, and promised a journey through the town’s iconic landmarks. But the tour was soon diverted and hijacked by VOYCE—a wiry, eccentric, bearded provocateur determined to present his own homage to Dylan Thomas, Laugharne and the world of Under Milk Wood. Unbeknownst to Roy, the official tour map had already been subverted and redrawn according to VOYCE’s vision.

VOYCE believed that, were Dylan alive today, he could still write Under Milk Wood: its characters—or people every bit as colourful—remained embedded in the town. Part pilferer, part poacher and part pirate, VOYCE gathered the raw materials of Laugharne—its objects, histories, inhabitants and stories—and reassembled them into an immersive portrait of place.

Guided by their altered maps, audiences encountered an extraordinary succession of installations, performances and interventions: multiple sheds; live owls and stuffed birds; a phantom carnival float; salt lace; a pendulum buoy; a canvas replica of 1950s Laugharne; a mirrored graveyard; singing, web-footed cockle women; a ship-shaped shed; a corrugated-tin terrace; and the real-life Willy Nilly postman.

Elsewhere along the route were a condemned sail; the slowed-down chatter of jackdaws; schoolchildren rapping Dylan; knitted Under Milk Wood figures; OSB coffin lids; a guardian heron; brassiere bunting; Tom Jones transformed into Captain Cat; bosom bread; a bloody livestock crime scene; Bible Black beer; golden cockleshells; sampled Stravinsky; a black canoe suspended in mid-air; and a Rolls-Royce fish-and-chip van.

The production offered no single or definitive account of Dylan Thomas or Laugharne. Instead, it celebrated art as impressionistic, imagistic and fleeting—hovering at the edges of the imagination, just beyond explanation’s reach.was a National Theatre Wales production in collaboration with BBC Cymru Wales devised by Rees and Jon Tregenna, (or as he likes to put it, in creative cahoots with ). The event took place in Laugharne over 3 days in May when 600 people experienced a sensorial treasure hunt throughout the the township described by Dylan as, ‘…the strangest town in Wales.’

In Laugharne groups of ‘tourists’ arrived for the Thomas Centenary Tour that took-in its iconic landmarks, introduced and supposedly led by their guide Roy Ebsworth-Williams of Super Elite Coaches. was ‘diverted’ and the tour hijacked by VOYCE, a wiry, eccentric bearded madman who wanted to present his own homage to Dylan Thomas, Laugharne and the world of Under Milk Wood, unbeknownst to Roy his map had already been subverted with VOYCE’s vision. The tour parties were given the amended map and presented with a plethora of installations and interventions that gave an insight into Dylan’s fascination with the town and its people.

VOYCE believed that if Dylan was alive today he could still pen Under Milk Wood as the characters or those just as colourful are still there .
VOYCE was a pilferer, a poacher and a pirate and using raw material ‘gathered’ around the township as well as local people and their stories he created a unique immersive experience .

Along the route the audience saw. Multiple sheds. Live owls. Stuffed birds. A phantom carnival float. Salt lace. A pendulum buoy. A canvas 1950′s replica. A mirrored graveyard. Singing web footed cockle women. A ship-shaped shed. A corrugated tin terrace. The real life Willy Nilly postman. A condemned sail. A slow-mo chattering of jack-daws. School-kids rapping Dylan. Knitted Under Milk Wood figures. OSB coffin lids. A guardian Herron. Brassiere bunting. Tom Jones as Captain Cat . Bosom bread. A bloody livestock crime scene. Bible Black beer. Golden cockleshells. Sampled Stravinsky . A suspended swinging black canoe and a Rolls Royce Fish and Chip van.

The whole show was a reminder that art at its best is impressionistic, imagistic, transitory; it hovers on the edges of imagination, just out of explanation’s reach.

Dylan Moore, Wales Arts Review

Raw Material: Llareggub Revisited fuses elements of NTW’s celebrated Passion of Port Talbot, in which all the town was a stage, with the ethos of Punchdrunk, inviting the audience to roam in search of a centrifugal narrative.

Jasper Rees , The Telegraph