The Canterbury(ish) Tales

About

A group of modern-day young performers in Canterbury are performing their end of term a show when a strange sound from the sky turns everything upside down. Clocks appear where phones once were. Torn maps whisper riddles. And suddenly, the cast is flung into a surreal world where time warps, everything rhymes, they each begin to transform—physically and emotionally, and(shock horror)mobile phones no longer exist! They follow the clues to journey toward South London (a reversal of Chaucer’s original pilgrimage), but as they do the students start to transform into quirky modern-day versions of Chaucer's characters: eco-warrior Pardoners, storytelling Wives of Bath, tech-addicted Cows, and flamboyant farm animals, including Chanticleer the rooster. As they stumble through forests, fields, and their own fears, the students are challenged to work together, face who they are without screens, and rediscover the real magic of human connection. Ultimately, they reunite, solve the riddle, and discover that the entire journey might have been imagined—an allegorical lesson in mindfulness, presence, and the transcending magic of theatre. But was it a dream… or a transformative performance?