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:

30 March 2010

Mike Poulton’s excellent adaptation of The Canterbury Tales began life as a two-parter for the Royal Shakespeare Company some five years ago, but for all that this abbreviated version emerges as a satisfyingly full response to Chaucer’s poem.

In part that is due to Poulton’s detailed involvement with the original. Eight or so of the tales are acted out more or less in full, but the constant, often understated allusions to the original create an impression of watching the whole work, not just a selection of tales. We open with a mildly modernised treatment of the famous opening lines and move away only gradually, anchored by Poulton’s version of Chaucer’s couplets. Details from the original are precisely judged: characters are introduced (quite naturally, it appears) by a relevant few lines from the Prologue, the Prioress’s love of little dogs leads to a floppy canine companion (flattened in a perfectly executed bit of business) and the ...

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