Canterbury Tales

Synopsis

Canterbury Tales is a bawdy classic written 700 years ago, it centres on a group of pilgrims who entertain one another with stories as they ride to Canterbury Cathedral. But despite the apparently holy purpose of their journey these travellers reveal themselves as sinners rather than saints. The pilgrims contrasting and colourful backgrounds offer many different stories, from the serious and moral to the farcical and bawdy, proving that like Shakespeare after him, Chaucer was ‘not for an age but for all time .

Our Review:

Simon Cole - 28 April 2010

Northern Broadside’s rich and ribald interpretation of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, rode into Southampton last night, bringing to life the sometimes bawdy, sometimes poignant stories of a disparate group of 14th century travellers on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Thomas.

This production, based on Mike Poulton’s faithful two-part adaptation, performed at the RSC five years ago, has been skilfully refined and reduced into a single evening retaining all of the most memorable characters and tales. The fact that at times, the performance feels overly long – just short of three hours – is due in part to the now unfamiliar language used, especially in the more complex allegories, requiring a good deal of concentration on the part of the audience.

The strong cast, of sixteen, are all excellent, and under the direction of Conrad Nelson, bring the subtlest of modern-day awareness to the six hundred year old characters, making the show more...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

No reviews yet

Click here to add your review