In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay
Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage
To Caunterbury with ful devout corage,
At nyght was come into that hostelrye
Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye
Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle
In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle,
That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde.
There's been several stage, film and TV adaptations of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, but this is possibly the first to take place on the very roads that Chaucer's pilgrims once trod. Southwark Playhouse's promenade production of The Canterbury Tales opens at the George Inn, SE1, with the Prologue. The action then moves - literally - to Little Dorrit's Court where the company (10 professional actors and 20 members of the local Southwark community) will perform the Miller and the Nuns Priest's Tale. The Pardoner's Tale will be relayed among the ciabattas and organic chocolate stalls of Borough Market, while the performance ends in the Millennium Courtyard of Southwark Cathedral.
This means about 30 minutes of walking. But then Chaucer's pilgrims managed five days.
The production opens on June 28, and runs until July 10.
