Although more than thirty years old now, this dramatic version of The Canterbury Tales by Phil Woods and Michael Bogdanov still feels remarkably fresh and perfectly pitched: in truly Chaucerian fashion, humour – sometimes subtle, more often anything but – is combined with moments of surprising depth and feeling.

Reviewed by Nigel Bryant, Head of Drama

The strong and exuberant cast of twenty two captured the varying spirit of The Tales perfectly. Olivia Sweeting led as a commanding M.C. constantly trying to stop the Miller (James Bell) from relating his notoriously bawdy story.

Tristan Landymore’s beautifully controlled delivery of The Knight’s Tale was finely enacted by Will Gibson and Olly Grant as Palamon and Arcite, skilfully avoiding any element of send-up but nonetheless exposing the underlying absurdity of chivalric values (and, perhaps, romantic love) as they thoughtfully helped each other to arm before battering one another half to death and happily offering themselves for execution in the name of love for the fair Emilie (Caitlin Scott).

Next up was Olivia Henson with The Wife of Bath’s Tale, in which Nicholas Freer-Smith and Camilla Greenwood engagingly played the Knight and the Hag in the magical story of enlightenment and transformation. More enlightenment came in The Franklin’s Tale, splendidly told by Will Butler and played with great sensitivity by Teddie Naish as Dorigen and Nicholas Allport as Aurelius, the squire who, having used magical tricks to gain Dorigen’s love, surrenders his advantage in admiration of her nobility and honesty. No tale mixed moods as well as this, the genuine emotion of the story being juxtaposed with Shiraz Islam’s outrageous Guru who stirred “Bombay Duck and Delhi Mutton” together with “black bits from my belly button” to create his miracle-working spell.

Even more glorious nonsense followed as Minnie Brown told The Nun’s Priest’s Tale, in which Shiraz Islam, now clad from head to foot as a fox (complete with permanently slavering tongue), terrorised Edward Fry, costumed just as extravagantly as the self-regarding, Elvis-esque cock Chanticleer, and his bevy of adoring hens led by Olivia Sweeting as his beloved Pertelote. The riotous fun of this fable finally gave way to Chaucer’s great morality tale told by the Pardoner (Ben Shegog). In The Pardoner’s Tale Tim Drewett, Ambrose Crofton and Robert Frome spiritedly played the three drunkards who idiotically set out to take revenge on Death for the plague that took away their old friend Walt, and duly meet Death, in the shape of an old woman eloquently delivered by Louise Burn, who leads them to kill each other in a fit of greed and treachery.

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