“I’ve always wanted to play Richard Burton” said Rhodri Miles, who is 42 years old and was born in Pontarddulais, just six miles away from Burton’s birthplace.
“He was a great thespian actor, an alcoholic womaniser who often said that his natural disposition to the Celtic gloom was caused by the mist in the hills and the black in the coal, all of it seeping into his very being. When you think of Welsh iconic figures, he’s one of them”
Since leaving the Metropolitan Police, Rhodri trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and has been a professional actor for twenty years. His recent credits include The Welsh captain in Richard II, Holby City, Torchwood and he is in the current BBC series Atlantis. Rhodri is at presently filming series 4 of the American HBO smash hit on sky ‘Game of Thrones’. On stage he recently played Lodovico in Othello at the Sheffield Crucible directed by Daniel Evans, opposite Dominic West’s Iago. He played Dylan Thomas to critical acclaim at the Edinburgh fringe in 2007 in Gwynne Edwards’ play “Dylan Thomas in London ” and is about to play Thomas again at next year’s Dylan 100 festival in Gwynne Edward’ new one-man play ‘Dylan Thomas – The Clown in the Moon’
Edwards is also the author of ‘Burton’, which vividly depicts the actor’s often hilarious, melancholic, self-deprecating take on life from humble beginnings to Hollywood mega-stardom, culminating in his acrimonious first divorce to Elizabeth Taylor, which happened not long after they both appeared together in the movie version of Dylan Thomas’ ‘Under Milk Wood’.
“In fact our play starts in the same manner as Under Milk Wood”, using the words from Dylan Thomas’ famous play for voices with ‘Burton’ stating the famous line – “To begin at the beginning….” which according to Rhodri is a very good place to start.
‘Burton’ received 4/5 star review at the Edinburgh festival in 2009 and at the 2010 Hollywood Fringe Festival June.
BURTON IS AT 8p.m. IN CILCAIN VILLAGE HALL THIS FRIDAY. TICKETS £10) (£6 concessions) FROM CILCAIN VILLAGE STORES AND ON THE DOOR
