BWW Reviews: THE CANTERBURY TALES Tells Old And New Stories Through Puppetry, Dance, And Electronic Methods Blending

Wednesday 29th July 2015, 7:30pm, New Theatre, Newtown

Blending Chaucer's tales with modern stories, THE CANTERBURY TALES blurs the lines of storytelling with mixed results. Utilising a variety of forms of expression, a number of short scenes are played out by a core cast, camera operators and 'guest' performers.

A white box corner space sits in the middle of the New Theatre stage, below 4 television screens suspended from the ceiling and a 5th screen situated to the right of the stage. In contrast to the modern minimalist setting, 7 actors (Ryan Carter, John Grinston, Sarah Jane Kelly, Zoe Jensen, Andrew Lindqvist, Marty O'Neill, Danielle Stamoulos), in medieval inspired, cream coloured layers unfurl an expression of the Bayeux tapestry which forms the 'stage' for the first story, told via a papier-mâché puppet show.

The show then takes a strange turn after the second puppet based story as Brandon Vu, in casual black attire presents a yo-yo 'dance' to music whilst 4 hand held video cameras provide live images to the screens above the stage. Vu is very talented but the purpose of the inclusion in the work is unclear and this trend continues with the other 'acts' in what appears to be more of a variety show line up. Some of the spoken word poetry, monologues and dialogues have a message but others are disjointed and it is difficult to discern a reason for their inclusion.

Creators Constantine Costi, James Vaughn and Michael Costi have used live video feed, reminiscent of Kip William's SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER for Sydney Theatre Company. Whilst SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER used the video feed to provide vision from a new angle that the audience couldn't see or focus on emotions, this use of videos does not really provide any significantly new angles apart from a brief venture behind the white box set. There are close ups on faces but the stories being told aren't delving into any extreme emotion that can't be seen normally in the small theatre space. For vision taken from the side of the performer or behind, there is no significant detail being captured from these angles to add to the understanding of the work.

There is an element of comedy in the stories being told but more so in the absurdity of the collection of concepts and styles utilised. A little of the commentary on contemporary society is clear and in keeping with the Chaucer's original stories which served as a critique of 14th Century England but for the most part connections between the work and the motive are tenuous. Whilst the media release suggests that the work is meant to delve into the ideas of storytelling and be viewed as a modern day reality television style challenge to find the person that can present the best story, in keeping with Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, this premise is never properly established in the work. THE CANTERBURY TALES appears to be a conglomeration of acts to showcase the various skills of the performers and employ gimmicks that the creative team have found but cannot insert into a normal work. There is an unpolished and unfinished feeling to this work that feels like it is a Fringe show in development. It is noted that this work is presented by George Georgiou Inc in association with New Theatre and is not part of New Theatre's in house productions.

THE CANTERBURY TALES

New Theatre, Newtown

14th July - 1 August 2015

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