Knights' Tale

Knights' Tale is based on 'Teseida' by Giovanni Boccaccio, 'The Knight's Tale' by Geoffrey Chaucer and 'Two Noble Kinsmen' by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare.

John Caird wrote the book, Paul Gordon wrote the music and lyrics, Maoko Imai wrote the Japanese book and lyrics and Brad Haak arranged and orchestrated Paul Gordon's score.

Presented by Toho Company, this world premiére production was mounted at the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo on 27th July 2018. It ran there for a month before touring to the Umeda Arts Theatre in Osaka, where it ran until the 15th October.

Because of the Covid crisis, the plan to revive it in 2020 had to be postponed. Instead it was performed in a concert version for two weeks in Tokyo, playing at the Geigeki Concert Hall in Ikebukuro and at Opera City Concert Hall, from August 10th-22nd. Brad Haak re-orchestrated the score for a full symphony orchestra and it was performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic, conducted by Yuji Wakabayashi, with John Caird directing the concert over video link from London.

It was fully revived a year later, opening in Osaka on the 7th September 2021, and touring to Tokyo and Hakata, where it closed on the 29th November 2021.