The Leeward Community College production of "Under Milk Wood" begs for footnotes.

Dylan Thomas' 1953 play for voices is a Welsh "Our Town" that follows the inhabitants of a small village as they live out an ordinary day. But it is also densely poetic, often musical, and difficult to capture with clarity.

Nothing daunted, the 20 students directed by Paul Cravath take on 70 roles over two acts in a tiny lab theater space that merges actors with audience. Unfortunately, the actors too often merge with each other, leaving much of the character-rich dialogue lost in the process.

Thomas' script piles up difficult words into mounds of poetry and poetic prose, intended for delivery with the swing and lilt of Welsh voices. Actors must unravel a line like this one and give it meaning and character sense at the same time: "In Butcher Beynon's, Gossamer Beynon, daughter, school-teacher, dreaming deep, daintily ferrets under a fluttering hummock of chicken's feathers in a slaughterhouse that has chintz curtains and a three-pieced suite, and finds, with no surprise, a small rough ready man with a bushy tail winking in a paper carrier."

The LCC cast takes to the chore with gusto, relying on youth, energy and sheer enthusiasm to put across at least a generic meaning. But the production's best moments arise from the staging rather than the words.

The entire cast is on its feet and dancing to a rap version of a Welsh song, conveying the energy — if not the full sense — of the verses. "Praise the Lord," says the Reverend, "We are a musical nation."

Later, Julia Nakamoto as Polly Garter picks up a microphone for a karaokelike ode to "Little Willie Wee, who is dead, dead, dead," while the rest of the cast joins in as a chorus.

Thomas' cast of voices etches out the nature of the townsfolk by their daily activity and through their subconscious thoughts on love, lust and death. Freudian images abound, and there is a morbid streak of dead spouses, dead lovers and dead sailors, along with some wishful thinking about some who might be improved by death.

But the overall tone is that of deep feeling, spiced by irreverent and earthy comedy. After all, these are the people of "Llareggub." Spell that backward and gain a clue to the play's spirit. That tone definitely comes across in the LCC performance.

While the action takes place in a free-form space with only wooden boxes for props, the set design by Reb Beau Allen features a Van Gogh "Starry Night" backdrop and interesting window dressing, including candles, a pirate's chest and a rope noose.

Haunting sound effects, like playing glassware and metal bowls by rubbing their rims, add to the sound track.

But if you've come for the words, study your Thomas before you arrive, or bring a copy with you.