WELSH WAYS COME TO STAGE WITH DYLAN THOMAS PLAY.

Byline: Julio Martinez Special to the Daily News

Dylan Thomas' dramatic account of one spring day in a small Welsh coastal town, completed just before his death in 1953, was written as a radio play, because the great Welsh poet felt uncomfortable moving about on a live stage.

The award-winning A Noise Within ensemble, which is performing ``Under Milk Wood'' in repertory with Edmond Rostand's ``Cyrano de Bergerac,'' has no trouble at all giving physical form to Thomas' melodic and sensual prose. Director Dan Kern has provided a talented, 10-member ensemble (who perform multiple roles) ample freedom to create a free-flowing series of finely detailed mini scenes in and around Michael C. Smith's unrestrictive, multilevel setting.

What is lacking is a sense of true conflict within the daily doings of Thomas' sea-loving Welsh folk in the town of Llaregguh. With William Dennis Hunt and Carol Mayo-Jenkins serving as the primary narrating ``voices,'' the lives of the villagers are laid out like well-worn grooves that deepen but do not vary with the passage of time. It is akin to listening to a colorful,

lascivious old uncle relate tales of his youth. It is soon obvious that the stories are less important than the storytelling.

For the most part, the ensemble handles the melodious Welsh accent with aplomb, although it takes awhile to get used to the thickly stated consonants of Hunt's narration. There is no such problem with Mayo-Jenkins, whose soothing dialogue floats lovingly over the citizenry like a mother cooing after her children. Hunt and Mayo-Jenkins serve as guides, but the local folk are more than capable of talking for themselves.

Mitchell Edmonds is outstanding as the many-years-retired seaman Capt. Cat, who is both haunted and soothed by the voices of his shipmates who were lost at sea and by lust-laden visions of the women who loved him. Joel Swetow is effectively macabre as the meek Mr. Pugh, who fantasizes about the many ways he could do away with his harridan of a wife, Mrs. Pugh, played to the shrewish hilt by Gail Shapiro. Swetow segues adroitly into the sated persona of Dai Bread, whose needs are serviced by two wives, the practical Mrs. Dai Bread I (Shapiro) and the sensual, gypsy-like Mrs. Dai Bread II (Hisa Takakuwa).

Also lending solid support within the ensemble are Peter Dillard as the perennially drunk Willy Nilly and Keri Hosteller as his always forgiving young bride, Mrs. Willy Nilly; Alan Brooks, whose Rev. Eli Jenkins possesses more the soul of a poet than the desire to preach the word of God; and Ann Marie Lee, who is vividly sensual in her portrayals of ladies who have known the wonders of physical love and those who are yearning to discover its treasures.

THE FACTS

What: ``Under Milk Wood.''

Where: A Noise Within at the Luckman Theatre, California State University, Los Angeles, 5151 State University Drive.

When: In repertory through Nov. 12.

Tickets: $30. Call [phone] for tickets and show times.

Our rating: Three stars.