Get set for a rollicking, Welsh-inflected rollercoaster ride in which six versatile actors take on 40 distinct characters in the Pear Theatre’s production of “Under Milk Wood” by Dylan Thomas.

It’s available as a streaming online production through April 11.

Thomas, well known as both a poet and a playwright, combines both of these talents in “Under Milk Wood.” It’s lyrical throughout, poetic–sometimes even laughably rhyming–but also tinted with moments of longing, sadness, caring and grief.

And while some of what comes out of the mouths of the many people who populate the little village of Llareggub (an imaginary town but similar to the Welsh village of Laugharne, where Thomas had lived and which is surrounded by milk wood trees.) is difficult to relate to, much is the same as what goes on in every small town–in Wales or anywhere in the world, but without the quaint Welsh accent.

Thomas’ quirky little play clearly has legs, in the vernacular of the theater. It started out as a BBC-commissioned radio drama in 1954 and was later adapted for the stage. In 1972 there was a film version featuring a bevy of A-list actors: Richard Burton, Peter O’Toole and Elizabeth Taylor. And it’s had numerous stage and screen adaptations featuring Sir Anthony Hopkins and Matthew Rhys since that time.

All six actors do fine work here in many of their characterizations. It’s Thomas’ convoluted, frequently absurd dialogue that becomes, on occasion, repetitious.

Yet his lyrical passages soar, augmented by the way director Sinjin Jones chose to incorporate a great deal of theatrical movement akin to modern dance. This is a plus, but also at times a distraction as various actors move around in a small circle, lifting up their chairs, turning them upside down and then setting them back down again.

Technical and set designer Kevin Davies deserves praise for creating the socially distanced set that has a center hub of brick. Brick and grass alternate throughout the rest of the set in a symmetrical pattern. Six concrete hubs have chairs atop wooden boxes which the actors use as their “home.” For those with a few costume changes, smaller boxes next them hide their additional costumes or props.

Standouts in this cast are Asha Kelly, dressed in orange overalls, who has a level-headed way of delivering her lines with a flourish and a good hold on that pesky Welsh accent, and Oluchi Nwokocha, prim and proper in her gray-white outfit and spring bonnets; she plays many characters, but none more affecting than Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard.

The remaining performers–all uniformly fine–are Coco Jimenez, Thomas, Farley, Kalan K. Birnie and Ali-Moosa Mirza. Clearly, the seventh “actor” here is Thomas’ lyrical, heartwrenching passages: parse, crisp and realistic.

Before the first Broadway production of “Milk Wood” opened, Thomas called the cast together and told them, “Love the words.” It’s unfortunate but necessary that due to the wearing of masks in Pear’s production, occasionally a word or two can’t be understood.

John R. Lewis’ sound and Ed Hunter’s lighting are both on point, and Marisely Cortes Fonseca comes up with suitable costumes. Melinda Marks serves as both dialect and movement consultant.

Tickets are $30 – $34 at www.thepear.org/season-19 or 650-254-1148. Ticketholders will also have access to several Zoom readings matched with pre-recorded video during the run.