Tavern Theatre and the Canterbury Tales

by Tom Daplyn

As a nation we have always had a tradition of meeting down the pub to share in good food (and drink), good friends and good fellowship. This is still often coupled with some form of entertainment; song, dance, joke telling, game playing and more recently karaoke!

In days of yore, this would all take place in the tavern; a place of wine and wassail (plus a few buxom wenches thrown in for good measure!) a place where stories would be told and songs would be sung and also the most likely place to find theatre. It was to the taverns of England that Shakespeare toured his plays before the construction of London’s Globe theatre and it was in Southwark’s Tabard Inn that Geoffrey Chaucer set the telling of his Canterbury Tales.

Tacit Theatre has always focussed on finding ways to make theatre more accessible and entertaining and we have now developed the idea of returning theatre to the tavern setting. Our aim is to create a space that challenges the normal conventions of theatre, to very much welcome our audience into the production, serving food and drink throughout the performance and to make whatever story we are telling the focal point of a complete night of entertainment.

To launch this concept we have chosen Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. A collection of stories told by an imaginary group of pilgrims in taverns on the way from Southwark to Canterbury and back again, they make the perfect accompaniment to ale and song and should make for an evening enjoyed by all!

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