A Warring Absence

Winner of the prestigious American College Theatre Festival, this play portrays the tumultuous marriage of the brilliant modern poet Dylan Thomas. It opens with Caitlin toasting his casket as she transports it back across the ocean following his last American tour. It then moves to the point of first decline, when Dylan comes home drunk with one arm broken and learns that their furniture has just been repossessed. There are no more publishers' advances and no more resources, so he decides on "one last pillaging of America." This time Caitlin insists on going with him "Where?" "To the States." "Yes, the United ones." because she has discovered some love letters from a woman Dylan met on his last trip state side. We follow them through an abortion, through drunken bouts in the States, and finally to his final collapse at a poetry reading. Back aboard ship, Caitlin reads the last poem and silently closes the casket.