Family Theater: The Pardoner's Tale

Family Theatre presents Jay Carroll Nash and Diana Lim. For it it brings you The Partoner's Tale, written by Geoffrey Chaucer and starring Jay Carroll Nash to introduce the drama, Your Hostess, Diana Lim.

Thank you, Jean. Geoffrey Chaucer, probably the first of the great English storytellers, was born some 600 years ago of a family high among those employed in the service of the king. But it was as a poet that he left his mark in the world, the beautiful poetry to be found in the Canterbury Tales.

Written in English that would hardly be understood today, these stories not only reveal the times in which Chaucer lived, but also his talent for telling stories, a talent that in my estimation is still unsurpassed.

So now it is with real pleasure that I give you the setting for the Pardoners tale, with J. Carol Nash as the Pardoner. In the year 1587, in England of only two and one half million inhabitants is emerging once more from the dark imprisonment of the long winter months.

Consequently, the order of the day is travel, and the objective for many is the shrine of the English martyr, Thomas Abecut at Canterbury. A group of 29 such pilgrims have come up in the early afternoon to Suffolk, and are gathered in the Tabadian where they plan to spend the night and set out early in the morning for

Canterbury. The owner of the Tabadine is one Harry Bailey, a red-faced, energetic man who was determined that his guests will enjoy this day. In addition to unveiling his treasures from Kitchen and Keg, Harry has offered his personal talents as master of the ceremonies in the Great Hall of the Inn.