Masks in the theatre possess the surprising and useful property of concentrating the audience’s attention on the character being played rather than the actor who is playing him or her. This was neatly demonstrated to me last Saturday at the matinee performance of The Masked Canterbury Tales. With no programme to identify the performers, I was under the impression that I was enjoying the work of four players equally divided as to sex. Only when the masks came off for the final bow did I realise the men were in the majority.

This was unusual but beguiling entertainment, described to me in advance as “a work in progress” but already showing evidence that progress has been good. The audience was offered a selection of Chaucer’s celebrated stories narrated in poetic, modern-day language by the one unmasked player (voice-versatile Lee Rufford) while his colleagues (Christopher North, Laura Coxon and Ben Pohlman) provided suitable silent action wearing masks crafted by the maker of those used in The Lion King.

Perhaps I should say unsuitable action, in the case of one of the stories, since this was the notoriously bawdy Miller’s Tale, set in Osney close to where I am writing this review. Its inclusion was another surprise for me, incidentally, since I had been informed in advance – presumably erroneously – that the show was pitched principally at children.

Youngsters were not the ideal target audience either for the Prioress’s Tale of a Christian boy slaughtered by devilish Jews (its nasty tone of anti-Semitism perhaps accounting for the fact that it is not well known). Completing a varied choice were the Pardoner’s Tale – the forerunner of so many ‘baddies-fall-out’ plots in which three men murder each other for a hoard of gold – and the Wife of Bath’s Tale of a man who finds out what women most want – and is appropriately rewarded.