Details

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' . This colourful and fast-moving adaptation takes us straight into Chaucer’s medieval world at the Tabard Inn, Southwark, where knights rub shoulders with ploughmen, and devout nuns shun dodgy pardoners. To pass the time on their pilgrimage to Canterbury, the genial innkeeper proposes a story-telling contest.

Creatives/Company

Author: Chaucer
Company: City of Oxford Theatre Guild
Adapted by: John O'Connor
Music: Roger Simmonds