Canterbury Tales set for the open air

Vicki Gumbley

16 July 2008

THE RECENTLY formed Evesham Festival Players are praying for good weather for the long-awaited open air performances of Canterbury Tales this weekend.
The Festival Players will be performing five of Chaucer's tales in modern English at Evesham Country Park on Friday and Saturday (July 18 and 19).
The tales are a bit bawdy, a little rude, very funny and full of colour and drama promising a splendid evening out.
Director, Eric Jones, said: "It’s been a hectic five months since the idea of some open-air theatre was first mentioned – but we’ve got there.
"Chaucer wrote his original before the invention of printing – and years before Shakespeare – so they were hand-written and copied, seldom appearing twice in the same way. We hope our audiences will enjoy the modern and comic twist we have put on our telling of the tales."
It is hoped people will bring a picnic to the country park at Twyford from about 6.30pm where some refreshments will be available to buy. The play unfolds from 7.30pm with 37 characters telling tales from The Pardoner, The Nun’s Priest, The Wife of Bath, The Knight and of course The Miller.
"Among the players our most senior actor is Pam Randle who plays the gentle nun telling the silly but funny story of the cockerel and the fox. And at the opposite end of the age spectrum is Scott Ridley, just 13, who performs brilliantly as one of the drunken young men in The Pardoner’s Tale, as well as the squire with his trusty bike in the tale of the Wife of Bath," added Eric.
Tickets are £6, £5 concessions and £15 for a family ticket (2 adults, 2 children), available from Tom’s Barbers in Evesham, The Almonry Museum, by visiting www.eveshamboxoffice.co.uk or by calling 01386 48788.

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