The Canterbury Tales E-Book

Geoffrey Chaucer

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

A landmark dramatisation for the Royal Shakespeare Company of one of the foundation stones of English literature. This two-play adaptation of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales encompasses all 23 stories. All the famous characters are here – as well as many less well-known but equally full of life. Each of the stories has its own style – heroic verse for the Knight's Tale, vernacular rhymes for the Miller's Tale etc – echoing the many narrative voices employed by Chaucer himself. Mike Poulton's adaptation of The Canterbury Tales was first staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in 2005.

Leseprobe

Geoffrey Chaucer

THECANTERBURYTALES

an adaptation in two parts by

MIKE POULTON

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Title Page

Original Production

A Note on the Text

Directors’ Note

Dedication

Characters

The Canterbury Tales

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

The Canterbury Tales was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in two parts. Part One was first performed on 16 November 2005 and Part Two on 23 November 2005. The cast was as follows:

THE SQUIRENick BarberTHE WIFE OF BATHClaire BenedictTHE CLERKDaon BroniTHE PARDONERDylan CharlesTHE PRIORESSPaola DionisottiALISON/CONSTANCE/MAYLisa EllisTHE REEVE/THE PHYSICIANChristopher GodwinCHAUCERMark HadfieldTHE MAN OF LAW/THE FRANKLINMichael HadleyEMILEE/MERCHANT’S WIFE/DORIGENAnna HewsonNICHOLAS/AURELIUSEdward HughesABSOLON/JOHN/DAMYAM/CROWMichael JibsonTHE MONK/THE MANCIPLEMichael MatusTHE HOST/THE NUNS’ PRIESTBarry McCarthyKING ALLA/WALTER/AVERAGUSChu OmambalaTHE SHIPMANIan PirieTHE MILLER/THE SUMMONERJoshua RichardsTHE KNIGHT/THE MERCHANTChristopher SaulHIPPOLYTA/MAYLIN/VIRGINIA/GRISILDEKatherine TozerTHE COOK/THE FRIARDarren Tunstall

All other parts played by members of the Company

Directed byGregory DoranRebecca Gatward,Jonathan MunbyDesigned byMichael ValeLighting designed byWayne DowdeswellMusic composed byAdrian LeeSound designed byJeremy DunnMovement byMichael Ashcroft

A Note on the Text

This version of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is designed to be spoken by actors and heard and enjoyed by audiences. To a reader unused to the unsettled spelling and pronunciation of fourteenth-century English, the early manuscripts of The Canterbury Tales, or Caxton’s first printed edition of 1476 or 1477, or even a modern original spelling edition can seem like a foreign language. Or so we are led to believe. My view is that the spelling is a greater deterrent than either the vocabulary or the pronunciation and that spoken Chaucer is surprisingly accessible. However, I have modernised the spelling throughout and, on occasion misspelled words to indicate and make obvious how they should be pronounced in order to meet the requirements of the rhyme and rhythm of a line. For example, Chaucer’s lines:

And specially, from every shires endeOf Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende

I have written as:

And specially from every shire’s endOf Engerland – To Canterb’ry they wend.

When in doubt, the heavy rhyme should guide the reader to the appropriate pronunciation.

Where Chaucer’s vocabulary becomes for today’s reader dense and forbidding and would, in my judgement, threaten the understanding and therefore the enjoyment of the work, I have altered it. I have not modernised (though I have on one occasion used the word wind-bag, and confess that the earliest usage I can find of it is 1470) preferring to use alternative vocabulary that would have been familiar to Chaucer’s own audience – except on a few occasions where, for the sake of a laugh, I couldn’t help myself. Some words I’ve not updated because, though long out of use, they are familiar to us from other sources – such as Shakespeare. For example wyght or wighte (person); whilom or whylom (once upon a time); certes (certainly) are all well known. Other words I’ve kept because I love them, and because they are at the heart of the work, and help define Chaucer’s greatness: for example weymenting (lamentation); mawmentree (the worship of idols); wanhope (despair); fernë halwes (far-off shrines); etc.

Most of the text is powered by lines of ten syllables familiar to us from Shakespeare’s usual verse form. It’s not always obvious where the stresses fall so, to help the actor and the reader, I have sometimes indicated what is required by accenting the syllable to be stressed (piercéd). I have not always done this. Sometimes Chaucer requires us to hit a consonant hard so that the last ‘e’ of a word almost becomes a separate syllable and indeed counts as one when calculating the ten stresses in a line. For example: ‘And smallë fowlës maken melody’ is not ‘And small fowls maken melody,’ nor is it ‘And smaller fowlees maken melody’ – a mangling I have sometimes, sadly, heard – but something between the two.

Another thing to note is the fluidity of the names of the characters in the tales. Chaucer often changes the form of the name in order to fit the rhyme and rhythm of the line. It is futile to try and standardise. For example, in The Knight’s Tale, Arcita is usually pronounced Ar-kíte-a, but to fit the line he sometimes becomes Ar-kíte, and on one occasion Ár-kite. Emilee occasionally becomes E-míll-ya, and once E-mill-yá.

I have always worked from two excellent old editions of Chaucer – Skeat at school, and Robinson at university, both published by Oxford University Press, and steered clear of any updated versions, however excellent and tempting.

Mike Poulton

Directors’ Note

Chaucer describes ‘well nine-and-twenty’ pilgrims in a company that gathered at the Tabard Inn to set off to Canterbury that April morning. (Actually he can’t count, because by my reckoning there are thirty, plus the Host of the Inn who joins them for the ride and Chaucer himself.)

The Host suggests that everyone should tell two tales on the road to Canterbury and two on the way back. It’s a scheme which is never completed by Chaucer. They do not in fact reach Canterbury at all, and only Chaucer himself actually tells two tales, and his first is rejected by the Host as doggerel. The Knight interrupts the Monk’s endless accounts of tragic falls from grace, and Chaucer just gives up on the Cook’s Tale.

Some of the pilgrims tell no tales, and we’ve left them out: the Haberdasher, Carpenter, Webbe (Weaver), Dyer, and Tapycer (carpet or tapestry-maker), all members of a guild fraternity (on a sort of Trades Union outing), along with two more priests that apparently also accompany the Prioress, and the Parson’s brother, the poor Plowman. The Knight’s Yeoman doesn’t tell a tale either, but we’ve kept him in! However, the Canon’s Yeoman, not one of the original pilgrims, who gallops up at Boghtoun under Blee, a few miles outside Canterbury, tells yet another story, following the Second Nun’s pious tale of St Cecily. And though Mike Poulton, our adapter and translator, gallantly represented both in his original text, and we went into rehearsal with both, we have cut them along the way. Who knows, they may reappear somewhere along our long journey. All the other pilgrims’ tales are represented in longer or shorter forms within our production.

We have pretty much retained the generally accepted order of the tales, and so, as this book goes to print, the production should feature (among others), the Knight’s, Miller’s, Reeve’s,

Prioress’s and Nuns’ Priest’s tales in Part One; and (again, among others) the Pardoner’s, Wife of Bath’s, Clerk’s, Merchant’s and Franklin’s in Part Two.

Gregory DoranRebecca GatwardJonathan Munby

For Greg Doran

‘That never did but al gentilesse’

Characters

THE PILGRIMS

CHAUCER

KNIGHT

SQUIRE

YEOMAN (non-speaking)

PRIORESS

MONK

NUN

NUNS’ PRIEST

TWO OTHER PRIESTS (non-speaking)

FRIAR

MERCHANT

CLERK OF OXENFORD

MAN OF LAW

FRANKLIN

HABERDASHER (non-speaking)

DYER (non-speaking)

TAPYCER (non-speaking)

CARPENTER (non-speaking)

COOK

SHIPMAN

PHYSICIAN

WIFE OF BATH

PARSON

PLOUGHMAN (non-speaking)

REEVE

MILLER

SUMMONER

PARDONER

MANCIPLE

CANON

CANON’S YEOMAN

HOST

JOHN

A HORSE (non-speaking)

SIMON, a miller

HIS WIFE

MAYLIN, his daughter

YOUNG SULTAN

SULTAN’S COUNSELLOR

OTHER COUNSELLORS (non-speaking)

THE POPE

CONSTANCE

THE ROMAN EMPEROR

THE EMPRESS

SULTAN’S MOTHER

3 SYRIAN LORDS (non-speaking)

THE WARDEN

DAME ERMINGILD (non-speaking)

A YOUNG KNIGHT

KING AELLA

FIRST NORTHUMBRIAN LORD

SECOND NORTHUMBRIAN LORD

NORTHUMBRIAN LADY

VOICE OF GOD

MESSENGER

DONAGILD, the Queen Mother

MAURICIUS (non-speaking boy)

ROMAN SENATOR

SOLDIERS, SERVANTS, LORDS, LADIES, SAILORS, etc. (non-speaking)

RIOTER 1

RIOTER 2

RIOTER 3

BOY

TAVERNER

OLD MAN

APOTHECARY

WINE MERCHANT (non-speaking)

OTHER TOWNSFOLK (non-speaking)

VIRGINIUS

VIRGINIA

APPIUS, an unjust judge

CLAUDIUS, an informer

SOLDIERS (non-speaking)

OFFICERS OF THE COURT (non-speaking)

SERVANTS (non-speaking)

FIRST ROMAN

SECOND ROMAN

ROMAN CROWD

YOUNG KNIGHT

PRETTY MAID (non-speaking)

KING ARTHUR (non-speaking)

QUEEN

8 LADIES

25 ELFIN LADIES (non-speaking dancers)

ANCIENT CRONE/ELF QUEEN

MARRIAGE PRIEST

SECOND SUMMONER

YEOMAN/DEVIL

PROSERPINA, the Fairy Queen

ARVERAGUS

DORIGEN

FIRST LADY

SECOND LADY

DANCERS (non-speaking)

AURELIUS

BROTHER TO AURELIUS

SCHOLAR

YOUNG MAGICIAN

HUNTSMEN IN VISION (non-speaking)

KNIGHTS IN VISION (non-speaking)

CHARACTERS IN THE TALES

THESEUS

HIPPOLYTA

EMILEE

QUEEN 1

QUEEN 2

QUEEN 3

CREON (non-speaking)

CREON’S ARMY (non-speaking)

ARCITA

PALAMON

PEROTHEUS (non-speaking)

MERCURY

JAILER (non-speaking)

VENUS

DIANA

MARS

SATURN

A FURY (non-speaking)

200 KNIGHTS (non-speaking)

NICHOLAS

ALISON

CARPENTER

ROBIN (non-speaking)

MAID (non-speaking)

ABSOLON

NEIGHBOUR 1

NEIGHBOUR 2

CROWD

MASTER OF TRINITY (non-speaking)

ALEYN

MERCHANT’S WIFE

DON JOHN, a young monk

PETER, the merchant

GUESTS (non-speaking)

SERVANTS (non-speaking)

A MASS PRIEST

PAGES (non-speaking)

JEWS, as many as possible

CHRISTIAN CHILDREN – singers

POOR WIDOW (non-speaking)

HER SON, singer

FRIEND OF HER SON, singer

SATAN

A JEWISH CUT-THROAT

PROVOST

PROVOST’S SOLDIERS (non-speaking)

ABBOT

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

PRIESTS, CROWD, etc. (non-speaking)

ANOTHER POOR WIDOW

DAUGHTER 1

DAUGHTER 2

CHAUNTECLEER

PERTELOTE

7 HENS

COL-FOX

SERVANTS (non-speaking)

AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS (non-speaking)

MALKIN (non-speaking)

CARTER

3 CART HORSES (non-speaking)

MABLE, another old widow

WALTER, a young marquis

FIRST LORD

SECOND LORD

OLD LORD

OTHER LORDS AND LADIES (non-speaking)

SERGEANT

MUSICIANS

MAIDEN 1

MAIDEN 2

GRISILDE

JANICULA, her father

A BISHOP (non-speaking)

EARL OF BOLOGNA

BRIDE, 16 years old (non-speaking)

HER BROTHER, 12 years old (non-speaking)

A PAGE

FIRST LADY

JANUARY, an old knight

PLACEBO, his brother

JUSTINIUS, his brother

WEDDING GUESTS (non-speaking)

PRIEST

SINGERS

DAMYAN, a young squire

A PAGE

MAY

MAY’S WAITING WOMEN (non-speaking)

PLUTO, the Fairy King

DANCERS (non-speaking)

A SQUIRE (non-speaking)

A MAID (non-speaking)

MANCIPLE, singer

CHORUS, singers

A WHITE CROW, singer

APOLLO, singer

APOLLO’S WIFE, singer

HER LOVER, singer

HORSES, HOUNDS, TAPSTERS, SERVANTS, CORPSE-BEARERS, LORDS, LADIES, KNIGHTS, A LAPDOG

CHAUCER’STHE CANTERBURY TALES

Adapted by Mike Poulton

Play One

Parts One and Two

Play Two

Parts Three and Four

PLAY ONE

PART ONE

One: Prologue

CHAUCER.

When that April with his showrers sweetë

The drought of March hath piercéd to the root

And bathéd every vein in such licower –

Of which virtue engendréd is the flower –

When Zephirus eek with his sweetë breath

Inspiréd hath in every holt and heath

The tender crops – And the young Sun

Hath in the Ram his halfë-course yrun –

And smallë fowlës maken melody

That sleepen all the night with open eye

(So priketh ’em Nature in their courages)

Then longen folk to go on pilgrimages –

PILGRIMS sing ‘When the Nightingale’ offstage.

And palmers for to seeken strangë strands

To fernë halwes, kowth in sundry lands;

And specially from every shire’s end

Of Engerland – To Canterb’ry they wend

The holy, blissful martyr for to seek

That them hath helpen when that they were sick

Befell that in that season on a day

In Southwark at The Tabard – as I lay

Ready to wenden on my pilgrimage