Trinity Tales | |
---|---|
Genre | Comedy drama |
Written by | Alan Plater |
Directed by | |
Starring |
|
Composers |
|
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 6 |
Production | |
Producer | David Rose |
Running time | 50 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | |
Release | 21 November – 26 December 1975 |
Trinity Tales is a 1975 British television series, consisting of six 50-minute programmes, written by Alan Plater and shown on BBC2. It was loosely based on Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales , updated to a modern setting.
The series evolved from a stage play by Plater, "Trinity Tales or The Road to Wembley", which was performed by the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company from 30 January 1975 to 22 February 1975. [1]
A bus carrying supporters of rugby league club Wakefield Trinity is on its way from Wakefield to a Challenge Cup Final at London's Wembley Stadium. To pass the time each of the characters on the bus tells a story. The teller of the best tale will win a free fish-and-chip supper provided by "Stan the Fryer", a chip shop proprietor. Along with Stan, the travellers are Nick, the bus driver, "Smith, the Man of Law" (a policeman), "Alice, the wife of Batley", "Dave the Joiner", his girlfriend "Judy the Judy" and a writer referred to as "Eric the prologue". On the way they stop off at several pubs. At one stop-off point they pick up the pub's lugubrious landlord, Reuben.
Names such as "Stan the Fryer" and the "Wife of Batley" are parodies of the names of the Chaucerian characters, the Wife of Bath and the Huberd the Friar. The figure of Chaucer himself is replaced by the writer Eric. [2]
Plater adapted five of the original stories: the Miller's Tale, the Wife of Bath's tale, the Reeve's Tale, the Knight's Tale and the Franklin's Tale. Another story begun by Eric is cut off by the other pilgrims for being boring, just like Chaucer's tale of Sir Thopas in the original.
The tales are told in ways that parody TV and film clichés of the era. [3] Thus The Man of Law's Tale, is a pastiche of 1973 film, The Sting , [2] and Eric's unfinished tale is told in the style of an arty film noir . The actors playing the "pilgrims" also perform the roles of the characters in the various tales, usually reflecting the personality of their pilgrim. [2] [3]
The tales typically involve techniques such as breaking the narrative with songs, and comic Brechtian alienation devices, including characters commenting on their own roles in the story. [3]
The tales were first broadcast from 21 November to 26 December 1975 on BBC2. The series was repeated in 1977. [4]
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's magnum opus. The tales are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together from London to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. The prize for this contest is a free meal at the Tabard Inn at Southwark on their return.
"The Knight's Tale" is the first tale from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.
"The Miller's Tale" is the second of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1380s–1390s), told by the drunken miller Robin to "quite" "The Knight's Tale". The Miller's Prologue is the first "quite" that occurs in the tales.
"The Wife of Bath's Tale" is among the best-known of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. It provides insight into the role of women in the Late Middle Ages and was probably of interest to Chaucer, himself, for the character is one of his most developed ones, with her Prologue twice as long as her Tale. He also goes so far as to describe two sets of clothing for her, in his General Prologue. She calls herself both Alyson and Alys in the prologue, but to confuse matters, these are also the names of her 'gossip', whom she mentions several times, as well as many female characters throughout The Canterbury Tales.
"The Pardoner's Tale" is one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. In the order of the Tales, it comes after The Physician's Tale and before The Shipman's Tale; it is prompted by the Host's desire to hear something positive after the physician's depressing tale. The Pardoner initiates his Prologue—briefly accounting his methods of swindling people—and then proceeds to tell a moral tale.
The General Prologue is the first part of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. It introduces the frame story, in which a group of pilgrims travelling to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury agree to take part in a storytelling competition, and describes the pilgrims themselves. The Prologue is arguably the most familiar section of The Canterbury Tales, depicting traffic between places, languages and cultures, as well as introducing and describing the pilgrims who will narrate the tales.
"The Friar's Tale" is a story in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, told by Huberd the Friar. The story centers on a corrupt summoner and his interactions with the Devil. It is preceded by The Wife of Bath's Tale and followed by The Summoner's Tale.
"The Second Nun's Tale", written in late Middle English, is part of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Narrated by a nun who remains unnamed, it is a hagiography of the life of Saint Cecilia.
"The Shipman's Tale" is one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.
"The Canon's Yeoman's Tale" is one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.
The Canterbury Tales is a 1972 medieval erotic black comedy Italian film directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini based on the medieval narrative poem by Geoffrey Chaucer. The second film in Pasolini's "Trilogy of Life", preceded by The Decameron and followed by Arabian Nights, it won the Golden Bear at the 22nd Berlin International Film Festival.
David Donald Valentine was a Scottish representative rugby union and World Cup winning rugby league footballer, a dual-code rugby international who played in the 1940s and 1950s, and coached in the 1960s.
The loathly lady, is a tale type commonly used in medieval literature, most famously in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale. The motif is that of a woman who appears unattractive but undergoes a transformation upon being approached by a man in spite of her unattractiveness, becoming extremely desirable. It is then revealed that her ugliness was the result of a curse which was broken by the hero's action.
Canterbury Tales is a series of six single dramas that originally aired on BBC One in 2003. Each story is an adaptation of one of Geoffrey Chaucer's 14th-century Canterbury Tales. While the stories have been transferred to a modern, 21st-century setting, they are still set along the traditional Pilgrims' route to Canterbury.
Charles Douglas Laughton is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He played at representative level for Great Britain (captain), winning 15 caps in all, winning a further cap for England, and Lancashire, and at club level for St. Helens, Wigan, Widnes, and Canterbury-Bankstown, as a second-row, or loose forward, and coached at club level for Widnes and Leeds.
Roger Millward was an English rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s, and coached in the 1980s and 1990s. A goal-kicking stand-off, he gained a high level of prominence in the sport in England by playing for Hull Kingston Rovers (captain) and Castleford, as well as representing Great Britain. Millward was awarded the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1983. Nicknamed “Roger the Dodger” for his elusive running, he was inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2000. Millward’s ability placed him in the top bracket of rugby league halves to have ever played the game.
David Chisnall was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level for Great Britain and England, and at club level for Leigh, Warrington (captain), Swinton, St. Helens and Barrow, as a prop.
David Eckersley is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level for Great Britain and England, and at club level for Leigh, St Helens, Widnes, Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and Fulham RLFC, as a goal-kicking fullback, centre or stand-off.
Stuart Wright is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, England and Lancashire, and at club level for Wigan and Widnes, as a wing.
Malcolm Aspey is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1980s. He played at club level for Fulham RLFC, Wigan, and Salford, as a centre, and coached at club level for Salford.