| Full of belly laughs, smiles, and cheers |
At Mappa Mundi |
| Mappa Mundi- The Canterbury Tales , Riverfront Newport , October 30, 2008 |
Geoffrey Chaucer himself was a undoubtedly a very smart populist. He defied the fashions of high society to write not in French or Latin,but in vernacular English, then a strange hybrid tongue. In doing so he captured the spoken culture of the masses, unwritten tales that had survived generations and countless re-tellings, and in the process inadvertently helped launch what we now call English Literature. It is this spirit of populism, and of spinning a good yarn, that has been grasped by Mappa Mundi theatre company. Their Canterbury Tales may upset some of the purists, but this is no bad thing- in polishing the 600 year old text they prove just what a diamond it is. While the script has been updated this is not a 'contemporary adaption' where the action takes place in possibly clunky modern day scenarios. The play relishes in its medieval context and the updates serve to make history accessible to a wide family audience. We are even given a jaunty potted and reduced history of the mid 14th century in order to start proceedings off. The admirable intention is to leave no soul behind- not even those without an English Lit qualification. In this respect the production is entirely successful and we are encouraged to engage and participate with the staid tomes of our literary history. Chaucer the populist- one feels- would have approved. The en-semble cast exude likeable energy, and between them have developed a keen sense of comic timing. Bawdy humour and witty wordplay abound, held together by a script that pays strict adherence to the traditions of poetic meter. As the laughs and the language rattle the story along we are left between the lines with a sense of cynicism of the church- the power of Chaucer's day- and faith in the common sense of the people. From a strictly scholarly perspective we are reminded that the upheavals and liberations of the reformation and renaissance were just around the corner when these stories were first recorded. Canterbury Tales is the kind of diversion that does not encourage the brain to be left on stand-by. But the intention, thankfully, is not to get too highbrow either- for this reviewer the highlight was the drag queen kitsch gospel flip-flop hip-hop popstar rendition of the story of Saint Cecilia. If belly laughs, smiles, and cheers are a measure of success then this was fine theatre. |
Reviewed by: Chris Paul |
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