The Canterbury Tales #PodcastReview #BriFri
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Last week, I reviewed the 2018 holiday special of Call the Midwife. Tina reviewed Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a prequel to the Harry Potter series. Gaele reviewed The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding by Jennifer Robson. Jean reviewed Jim at the Corner by Eleanor Farjeon. Becky reviewed the book 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff.
I read The Canterbury Tales in high school. Do you know that some of them are pretty raunchy? Really, rather shocking to this small town girl.
At the same time, I got a kick out of getting away with something. For weeks, I carried that book around the school because it was a classic. I even got praised by adults who had no idea what was actually in it. A more modern book with the same themes would have been met with disapproval or an outright ban.
That was a long time ago. I thought that all I remembered was The Wife of Bath’s tale (which I’ve re-read once or twice) and a couple of the raunchy bits. It turns out there were a few more memories that lurked in my brain.
The Canterbury Tales, as portrayed by the cast of The Archers, is currently available at the BBC Radio 4 website.
The Archers, the world’s longest running soap opera, is about the rural community centered around the fictional village of Ambridge. They put on a show every year around Christmas time.
This year, that show was a retelling of eight of The Canterbury Tales. The entire show was broadcast in two one-hour radio specials. I remembered the dilemmas in The Franklin’s Tale and the puzzle of The Knight’s Tale just before it was revealed.
Part 1 of The Canterbury Tales is available for a couple more weeks and Part 2 will be available for another week after that. They originally aired on December 29 and January 5 on BBC Radio 4.
There are inside jokes for long-time listeners, like me, but I think people will enjoy this as a radio performance even if you aren’t familiar with The Archers characters.
My sister is familiar with the Archers and she was talking about this at how fun it was. Now I have to apologize to her and tell her she is not the only one who got a kick out of this production since I was kidding her to widen her entertainment scope! Now looks like I am the one who’s scope needs to be widen!
I think it was sophomore year in high school when we dove into them – and my English teacher – Danish by birth and a bit of a ‘rebel’ herself – particularly since it was an all-girls parochial school was very clear about the ‘raunchy’ elements – and had us all invested in the stories and the rhythm of the old English – I’ve never (since) had anyone who dove into the tales so thoroughly or well since – although there was a close second in an Oxford presentation that I was fortunate enough to catch back a few years ago.
Joy, you have me back into the Archers (thank you) and now I will be bugging you about podcast suggestions. I just bought some Bluetooth headphones which I can use when I walk so I’ll want more than my music!
I enjoyed this s post & will check out the bbc radio.
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