Just Looking After Play’s Welsh-Being : Theater: Grove director has aimed to enhance ethnic quality of ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales,’ which opens tonight.

Bud Leslie says his retooling of Dylan Thomas’ “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” the Grove Shakespeare Festival’s annual holiday show opening tonight at the Gem Theatre, was based on one question: “How do we make it more Welsh?”

Leslie, a veteran of past productions and now the third director to take on “A Child’s Christmas” since the Grove first staged it six years ago, noted that after each run, the cast would get together and mull over ways to improve the already popular show.

“It usually came down to finding out what was missing,” said Leslie, who for the past four years has played the role of Jim, one of young Dylan’s chums. “Everybody always liked what had been done, but everyone always wanted it to be more Welsh, in style and feeling. The next step was figuring out what that means.”

Leslie went to the source: Thomas’ poetic reminiscences about his childhood in the small Welsh seaside village of Swansea--upon which this part drama, part musical (adapted by Jeremy Brooks and Adrian Mitchell) is based--provided the clues. Leslie found in the writing a sense of Welsh spiritualism, even folksy mythology, and a bittersweet appreciation of the Christmas season, and he tried to incorporate that in his approach.

“I really have aimed for more subtexts and more realism,” he said. “There’s a spiritual sense of things, even of ghosts, (in the Welsh culture) that we’ve tried to touch on. We tried to make this show more reflective of that and just more reflective on a general level as well.

“As for the realism, I’ve tried for the atmospheric, giving it a sense of the cold outside the (Thomas family) home and the warmth inside. The oversized presents (from last year’s production) are gone, replaced by rocks in a more realistic setting.”

To further emphasize the play’s Welsh foundations, Leslie has one of the characters announce that he wants to sing a song in the country’s native language. The show has always included the song (and many other traditional Welsh tunes, most sung in English); the declaration is what’s new. Leslie believes it draws attention to the country’s historic worry that its language has been swallowed by English.

Leslie noted that he’s also opted to make “A Child’s Christmas” a bit more somber than in the past. Last year’s production--directed by Thomas F. Bradac, the company’s since-deposed artistic director--had a vaguely surreal and whimsical quality.

“I think Tom did a great job,” said Leslie, “but I wanted to make sure the people seem more gritty. We want them to seem like people who aren’t always happy, that their lives may not be that great. Sure, they may be happy on Christmas, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re always happy people.”

To reach that end, Leslie has asked the actors to “pull back some” and try to emphasize Thomas’ poetry so his muscular winter imagery (“ear-pinching air,” “irreligious snow”) will ring through.

Asked if the new approach suggests that the Grove is trying to further distance itself from Bradac, whose departure was less than friendly, Leslie was adamant. “No, that had nothing to do with it. In fact, Tom asked me to direct it (before he resigned), and he gave me advice along the way. We just want to be fresh.”

Leslie was also eager to point out that this reworking, even with the more contemplative elements, will not be a downer, or tailored solely for die-hard Thomas fans. He said he has tried to keep it a family entertainment.

“I’m certainly not going to say it’s going to be this brooding, unhappy thing filled with dysfunctional people,” Leslie said, laughing. “It will still appeal to kids, because they love the energetic imagery. And their parents should love the wonderful challenge of the language.”

The Grove Shakespeare Festival’s “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” opens tonight at 8 p.m. and continues Wednesday s through Saturday s at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7:30 p.m. (with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 3) through Dec. 29 at the Gem Theatre, 12852 Main St., Garden Grove. Tickets: $18 to $22. Information: (714) 636-7213.