' THE DECAMERON ' SERIES : HONOURS MAKING REVIEW

ROME : In a tale of disease, there's fun to be had. '' The Decameron '' set in the Middle Ages, finds laughs in a deadly plague.

'' The Decameron,'' a new limited series, opens in Florence, Italy, in 1348. As bells toll peacefully over the rooftops, a raven lands on a window ledge, and peers around inquisitively before being struck by a young boy as he yells, '' FOOD.''

The raven splats to the ground, dead, not far from the body of a shoeless man, also dead. 

'' Mom, I got a chicken,'' the boy calls out. Cheery music announces a title card : The Black Plague.''

This darkly funny scene sets the tone for the show, which arrived on Netflix last Thursday.

Loosely based on Giovanni Boccaccio's 14th-century book of the same name, the show's eight episodes tell the story of a group of nobles who attempt to escape the plague by taking refuge in a villa, some with their servants.

Setting a dramedy during one of the most devastating periods in human history, estimated to have wiped out up to half of Europe's population, might not seem like the most obvious choice, especially coming on the heels of the corona virus pandemic, which also killed millions around the world.

But on the '' Decameron '' set in Rome in March last year, the cast and crew appeared to be having a lot of fun.

'' It's been probably too fun,'' said the British actor Tanya Reynolds, who plays one of the villa guests. '' I feel like every night I go home and my actual torso aches, my ribs hurt because I've been laughing so much.''

Sandra-Monica Jackson, of '' Derry Girls'' fame, compared the long working days to a '' lockdown of sorts,'' because the cast had been so immersed in the project.

'' But I'm really enjoying it. It's like a perfect tonic of brilliant, hilarious people,'' said Jackson, who plays one of the servants.

Set against the background of the Black Death, Boccaccio's '' The Decameron '' tells of 10 characters who take refuge in a villa outside Florence, '' in the beautiful, not infected countryside '' [ an episode title ], and while away the evenings by swapping tales.

The World Students Society thanks Elisabetta Povoledo.