Adapted from Geoffrey Chaucer
(Based on the OUP translation from Middle English by David Wright)

There's nothing quite like The Canterbury Tales to put the present-day observer in touch with the ordinary lives of our medieval forbearers. Six of the best, bawdiest, and most accessible of Chaucer's famous tales are included in this new dramatic adaptation, originally produced in the open air with an ensemble cast, to near riotous acclaim!

These stories convey the gritty reality of life in Medieval England, combining into one boisterous and hilarious portrait of ordinary folk preoccupied with petty jealousies, mundane squabbles, and simple pleasures - all conveying really how little the English people have changed during 600 intervening years.

The whole play is framed within the context of the Pilgrims' journey from Southwark to Canterbury, with linking and narration between each tale provided by Chaucer himself, and of course, prototypical genial host, Harry Bailey.

The six tales included are: The Nun's Priest's tale of Chanticleer and The Fox; The Wife of Bath's tale - enchantment, chivalric love, and the nature of faith and honour; The Friar's tale - a grim and chilling story of ill-deeds and grisly supernatural revenge; The Pardoner's tale - how three robbers, each trying to double-cross the others, all end up falling fatally foul of their own treachery; The Miller's tale - about a very old man, his very young wife and her admirers, and a case of mistaken identity involving a bare bottom and a red hot poker; and The Reeve's tale - the uproarious and farcical tale of Show-off Simkin, his buxom daughter, well-preserved wife, and the two lusty students whom he very ungraciously allows to stay in his house one night…

Cast: Principals 7M 1F, plus an ensemble cast taking a further 30 or so cameo and extra roles.

Click here for characters in the play.

Licenced for performance by Richard Lloyd Playscripts. Click here for terms and conditions.

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