THE CANTERBURY TALES. To 24 September.

London.

THE CANTERBURY TALES
by Geoffrey Chaucer adapted by Mike Poulton.

Gielgud Theatre To 24 September 2006.
‘The Knight, The Miller and Other Tales’ Mon, Wed, Fri 7.30pm Mat Thu & Sat 2pm.
‘The Wife of Bath and other Tales’ Tue, Thu, Sat 7.30pm.
Audio-described/Captioned 2 Sept 2pm, 5 Sept.
Runs 3hr One interval (each part).

TICKETS: 0870 950 0915.
www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk (24hr; £1 booking fee per ticket).
Review: Timothy Ramsden 18; 21 July.

High-jinks and macabre mysteries on the rocky road to Canterbury.
As with their 1980 adaptation of another literary marathon, Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby (currently revived at Chichester), the Royal Shakespeare Company has realised that what’s needed for such large narratives is more time than a single show can allow. This is something that should be bred into their being. Hamlet and King Lear are hardly models of the dramatic concision Aristotle’s so-called ‘Rules’ described; compare the far shorter tragic span of French dramatists like Corneille or Racine, who did obey these ‘Rules’.

This epic RSC voyage catches Chaucer’s spirit and much of his content, while being a superb display of theatricality. From the naïve appearance of the tree on a realistic greensward to the developing relationships and individual characters of various pilgrims, Mike Poulton’s version, and the director-trio’s production, ensures this pilgrimage has a feel of reality and progression. So when the cavorting caravanserie reaches the cathedral with a choral, candlelit hymn the variety of humanity and the mystery of spirituality convincingly co-exist.

For example, the comic double-act of butch Summoner and camp Pardoner is dead right for these unholy religious trades, while the hostility between the Summoner and Friar is characteristic of ‘professional’ jealousy. And Mark Hadfield’s Chaucer is an outstanding example of an invisible narrator given identity on stage. Here’s the civil servant who, after a lifetime’s learned, on-the-side versifying, writes what he observes with wry humour, creating the first major poem which can be simply modernised and which people will actually want to read.

Hadfield’s unassuming figure shrugs off attempts to identify him. His own tale’s not among the better-known, and after it’s enacted the chances are few audience members will know it still, as it becomes a parade of modern club dancing rapped in a rhythmic telling too hilarious to allow for detailed listening.

There’s space for all natures here, from Claire Benedict’s confident, happy Wife of Bath to the nervous Squire for whom the prospect of tale-telling is purgatorial. Tales contrary to modern taste are told tactfully but truthfully, including the Clerk’s story of female submission, and the Prioress’s of Hugh of Lincoln – though this one’s anti-semitism is sprayed afterward with adverse comment.

All told, it’s a finely-spun couple of shows, with a care and energy only a major company could create.

”All told”? – well not quite. It’s been a rocky road for me; I hope Chaucer’s pilgrims had a better time of. 5 attempts to get to the 2 parts of Mike Poulton’s adaptation, in Stratford and London. 3 were frustrated by traffic hold-ups (one completely, the others partially).

And the twice I made it to the Gielgud? One was a performance where an actor collapsed, causing a jump-cut in one tale, and what stage-management described as the RSC’s understudy system, which seems to consist of a cunning device whereby someone has a script thrust in their hand to read a missing person’s lines. Fortunately, the indisposition was for one-night only.

The other time, I was there, the cast was there, the pre-show music played, the usual announcement about mobile ‘phones and pagers was broadcast. Then came the power-cut. Being French, it may be the company currently supplying central London’s electricity had not expected hot weather in England and was unable to deal with the sudden incursions into their limited voltage of multiple air-conditioning units at full blast.

So, I was left stuck, aas it were, at the Tabard in Southwark, only catching the pilgrims some way on their journey. That’s my Canterbury Tale, but I doubt I’ve missed much outside the bustling, colourful motley I encountered most of the way.

Squire: Nick Barber.
Wife of Bath: Claire Benedict.
Clerk: Daon Broni.
Pardoner: Dylan Charles.
Prioress: Paola Dionisotti.
Alison/Constance/May: Lisa Ellis.
Reeve/Physician: Christopher Godwin.
Chaucer: Mark Hadfield.
Man of Law/Franklin: Michael Hadley.
Emilee/Merchant’s Wife/Dorigen: Anna Hewson.
Nicholas/Aurelius: Edward Hughes.
Absolon/John/Damyan/Crow: Michael Jibson.
Monk/Manciple: Michael Matus.
Host/Nun’s Priest: Barry McCarthy.
King Aella/Walter/Arveragus: Chu Omambala.
Shipman: Ian Pirie.
Miller/Summoner: Joshua Richards.
Knight/Merchant: Christopher Saul.
Hippolyta/Maylin/Virginia/Grisilde: Katherine Tozer.
Cook/Friar: Darren Tunstall.

Directors: Gregory Doran, Rebecca Gatward, Jonathan Munby.
Designer: Michael Vale.
Lighting: Wayne Dowdeswell.
Sound: Jeremy Dunn.
Music: Adrian Lee.
Music Director: Sylvia Hallett.
Movement: Michael Ashcroft.
Company voice work: Jacquie Crago, Charmian Gradwell.
Fight director: Terry King.
Assistant director: William Oldroyd.
Associate costume designer: Emma Williams.

2006-08-01 14:04:32