Chaucer All Strung Up (The Franklin’s Tale)

Cambridge University's Strung Up Theatre are running away with the circus in this adaptation of Chaucer's The Franklin's Tale, threaded through with a storytelling vibe, gypsy-hued costumes and aerial tricks.

If you can forgive the cutsey-voiced prologue enacted by bunraku puppets or the tireless meta-theatrical references, this turns out to be a production of charm and sweetness told with the kind of confidence and unselfconscious zeal that only enthusiastic students can give.

The franklin's characters are now itinerant circus artists living a kind of fantasy circus life—reminiscent of Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus—where they frolic, leap and stargaze. Dorigen and trapeze artist Arveragus are in love, but Gus needs to go and brush up his act, leaving Gen to the clutches of old-flame-turned-dull-actuary Ray.

The teen movie dialogue might be a little sickly but it does help to make a medieval story feel fresh and modern as a meditation on young people's relationships, the need for freedom and space, and those things we carelessly say coming back to haunt us.

Circus skills are cleverly incorporated as part of clumsy or struggling characters' acts, allowing the cast to try them out without the pressure of being perfect.

A lot of this production really depends on how you approach it. It won't change the world, and the velvet and crafts design might have been a bit more more on-trend a few years ago. But for a piece of student-devised simple storytelling, its cosy atmosphere fills the time nicely.