I am always happy to indulge in a bit of Chaucer, whether it be masked or otherwise. One of the English language’s earliest literary superstars, his selection of tales following the adventures of a disparate group of pilgrims on the road to St Thomas a Beckett’s shrine at Canterbury is full of romance, humour, wisdom and wit. So I was happy to make my own pilgrimage down to the OFS in George Street to see what was going on.

The Oxford company Acting About were until very recently planning to put on a production of Romeo and Juliet. But when they unfortunately lost too many cast members to other projects to make this Shakespearean outing feasible, they bravely decided not to cancel their OFS studio slot. Therefore they had to come up with an alternative very quickly. Getting their heads together they decided to stage some of their favourite Chaucerian bits — and this engaging production is the result.

Only an hour long, the show is framed around Chaucer’s narration and features the Prioress’ Tale, The Wife of Bath’s knightly romance, the salutary tale of greed from The Pardoner and the very blue comedy of The Miller’s Tale. The cast of four physical theatre actors — some are graduates of the Oxford School of Drama — devised the show together, taking on many roles throughout. Christopher Andrew North, James Bewley and Tom Dwyer all shone in different parts of the piece and with the fine narration by Tom Sindall as Chaucer, they had created a great ensemble feel to the evening.

One interesting aspect to the production is that each of the characters, apart from the narrator, wears the most incredible masks. They were actually made in America by the artist who created the masks for The Lion King. This clever touch enhanced and graced the physical and stylised acting of the company. They may not have had very long to put this show together but they pulled it off with aplomb.