Pantaloons

SIX actors will perform every one of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales at Speke Hall later this month.
Between them, they will play more than 70 characters in The Pantaloons’s open-air production.
Each of the 23 tales will be told in a different medium – including pantomime, puppetry, masks, musicals, mime, farce, reality television, horror and opera.
“It’s all about being faithful to the original text while making it relevant to a modern audience,” says co-producer Mark Hayward.

“It’s a tricky line to walk but as we were translating we realised that the key things were to keep it accessible and keep it funny.”
A medieval market will be held before the show, where the audience can interact with the characters, buy their wares and even enjoy a kiss from the Wife of Bath.
Then it’s time to roll out the picnic rug and follow the escapades of the pilgrims holding a story-telling contest on the road from Southwark to the shrine of St Thomas Beckett in Canterbury.
“Famous ones like The Miller’s Tale and The Wife of Bath’s Tale deserve a proper showing,” says Hayward. “Other stories have been condensed into sketches, songs or even limericks.”
THE Canterbury Tales is at Speke Hall on July 20.