Ronald Lacey was an English character actor who in 1978 was best known for playing weaselly, snivelling little men such as police informers and petty criminals. In 1978 (the 25th anniversary of Dylan Thomas's death) he was given the chance to do something which really demonstrated his range, the title role in this major BBC production.
Lacey's performance was excellent. He truly captured the exhaustion and despair of Thomas's last days. Even in everyday conversation Thomas can't stop playing with words. When someone says something "makes sense", he replies "es-nes, that's 'sense' backwards". Despite this his gift of poetry seems to have vanished and he is obsessed by the feeling his life has been wasted. Looking at a copy of the 'Collected Poems' he says "such a slim volume". Lacey's acting made you feel you were watching Thomas, in the same way Anthony Hopkins made you feel you were watching Nixon.
Why only 7 stars? Because the script insisted on emphasising Thomas the bar-room roarer over Thomas the artist. He comes over as a drunken ham rather than a literary genius (the last half-dozen of the 'Collected Poems' are amazing pieces which took literally years to write). The production values don't quite convince us we're in 1950's America.
Following this production Ronald Lacey toured as Dylan Thomas, giving readings in theatres across the country. He was also rewarded with a film career that gave him immortality as Major Toht in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'. This, however, was his finest hour.
As is usual with the BBC this was shown twice on terrestrial TV and has never been released on video or DVD, or re-broadcast on a digital channel.
