LAST summer's Hamlet opened the door to outdoor summer theatre up the 55 steps at Clifford's Tower.

Prepare for a rush this season, by permission of English Heritage. York Rose Open Air Theatre presents the cheeky girls and boys of The Canter-bury Tales, under the direction of Theatre Royal pantomime stalwart Martin Barrass, until June 29; fellow York company The Dreaming Theatre Production Company premiere a new adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Eric, A Discworld Tale, from July 3 to 26; and Chapterhouse Theatre Company visit with Romeo And Juliet, on August 9.

After its co-production involvement with Hamlet, Anthony Bryce's York Rose company returns wiser and leaner for its second instalment of al fresco theatre. Given the vagaries of the English weather, the shorter running time - goodnight by 9pm - is the first canny move.

So too is the choice of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales with its short, sharp, if not quite shocking stories of knights, kings, carpenters, queens, violated maidens and game girls with the most full bosom.

Off they go wooing, chasing, scoring, winning and losing on love's playing field, with the broadly-drawn characters providing instant entertainment: always good for outdoor theatre where the attention span can be hindered by the counter attractions/distractions of picnics, birdsong and darkening clouds.

For the setting of the tower built by William the Conqueror, producer Bryce and director Barrass have selected three tales each with a conqueror at its core: The Wife Of Bath's Tale in the first half, The Miller's Tale and The Reeve's Tale in the second. Costume is medieval, the language modern.

Against the backdrop of a simple set design with stonework to match the tower and curtains for the sexual shenanigans, the original competitive streak of Chaucer's story tellers is retained. For the right to go first, the Wife of Bath (a lively Lyndsay Maples) does battle with the rumbustical Miller (Jon Adamson, a Brian Glover with more hair) and curmudgeonly Reeve (Lee York, his face screwed up like an old rag).

She wins, whereupon Kieron Attwood's Knight and Frances Garvey's Old Crone join the Chaucer party for the night's most serious tale. After interval wine and Chaucerian karaoke, the "second half is so much coarser, but don't blame us, blame Geoffrey Chaucer". Garvey is a saucepot in the Barbara Windsor mould, Attwood humorous in his ardour, and curtains playfully cover a multitude of sins. There is, however, room for more bounce in the Barrass tradition.

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Updated: 10:02 Wednesday, May 28, 2003