Dylan Thomas: In My Craft, Kings Place

Visionary poet, womaniser, drunk. Just who was Dylan Thomas? 

Many of us will carry his beautiful, incantatory lines of poetry in our minds; Do not go gentle into that good night.

But the Welsh bard, who died at just 39,  is also renowned for his hard drinking and dissolute lifestyle, played out in the bars of London and New York. 

Thomas remains a very modern celebrity, then, and it is hard to believe we are approaching the centenary of Wales’ greatest poet, who was born in October 1914.

One of the first events celebrating his centenary already looks set to be amongst the very best, featuring a stellar line-up of modern poetry’s finest voices. Former Welsh Laureate Gwyneth Lewis,  poet and broadcaster Owen Sheers and acclaimed Thomas biographer Andrew Lycett will be reading many of Thomas’ most powerful works at Kings Place in London in what promises to be an enthralling evening. 

Using Dylan’s poetry as a guide, the reading will follow his poetic trajectory on a biographic trail from his birthplace in Swansea to the bright lights of London and New York where he eventually died. 

Listeners will be treated to classics such as the title poem of the evening: In my Craft or Sullen Art. Here, Thomas writes not for financial gain but:

for the lovers, their arms 

Round the griefs of the ages

Who pay no praise or wages

A fitting tribute for a man who was so often penniless despite his poetic gifts.

The evening, curated by the lively arts charity Poet in the City, also promises revivals of less familiar, but equally powerful works by the poet and playwright, including ‘forgotten’ compositions that many may never have heard before.

We highly recommend booking tickets for this show. It should be a brilliant introduction for those new to Thomas, and a wonderful affirmation for fans of this "roistering, drunken and doomed” young man who left behind some of the most moving lines of verse ever written.

Ticket price: £9.50