Tacit Theatre
Tacit Theatre sets out to create original, storytelling theatre with live music and immersive design.
Since 2006, it has had the simple aim of putting on shows with true mass appeal that people want to come and see, particularly those who wouldn’t usually go to the theatre. From the writing process, through design and rehearsals to the performances themselves, they focus on their audience putting the emphasis on telling the story, making it accessible, relevant and, above all, entertaining for a wide range of tastes.
Its Canterbury Tales has gone through several versions since first being staged. At first it was played by a mixture of musicians and actors—with some non-musicians they dubbed “mugglers”, getting by using cellos as drums or playing tankards—but now the actors are the band.
To make it even more immersive, they now have a real bar where the audience can get drinks right through the show, which is central to the inn setting with Mein Host leading the storytelling. Though Chaucer’s language is mainly modernized to be more easily intelligible, a significant portion stays in Middle English.
In contrast to this medieval roistering, it has applied the same methods, though with very different effect, to staging Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story The Study in Scarlet.
The award was presented for Canterbury Tales, which Brice described as a mixture of drama, music and storytelling all fused together.