Chaucer in the HUB

The plays performed by the Chaucer class, first the “Nun’s/Priest’s Tale,” and then the Christmas play about the trial of Mary and Joseph, were performed well by the Chaucer class and added a lot of fun to the HUB on Thursday.

            The first play was about a rooster getting tricked by a fox, then having to use his wits to escape. The rooster has a dream in the beginning of the play that he is going to die because of a vicious fox. He tells his favorite wife about the dream, and she tells him to not worry about it too much, that a dream is just a dream. He ignores her, telling her that men have seen the future in dreams, and that she shouldn’t tell him what to do, especially considering how advice from women has been fatal before. There was a collective groan and hiss from the audience at this point. The rooster does end up getting outsmarted and captured by the fox, and the actors were very funny in this scene. In order to escape, the rooster in turn outsmarts the fox, and the play ends with the fox cursing himself for being deceived, the moral being to be careful of when and how much you speak.

            The second play was a Christmas play about the trial of Mary and Joseph. The class performed the play in southern accents, which, as we learned in this class, actually works really well with the rhythm and pattern of the words. The play describes the trial of Mary, an unmarried woman who is pregnant yet claims to be a virgin. The play was very funny, ending with the satisfying demise of the villain, with Mary and Joseph happy with the conflict resolved. This story is not in the bible, and it was an interesting take on an event that could have potentially taken place.

            I was working at the info desk during the plays, and it was really fun seeing the audience that gathered and listening to their reactions and participation with the plays. This was a perfect example of how the humor in these plays is still just as relevant and funny today as it was when they were first written and performed, and the actors did a great job making the plays funny and entertaining. It was very fun to be both an audience member and an observer of the overall event.