Poculi Ludique Societas


PLS, or Poculi Ludique Societas, the Medieval & Renaissance Players of Toronto, sponsors productions of early plays, from the beginnings of medieval drama to as late as the middle of the seventeenth century.
The group had its origins in 1964–1965 in a seminar on medieval drama conducted at the University of Toronto. For more than forty years, PLS was associated with the university's Centre For Medieval Studies, offering a regular schedule of plays every year. Now, as part of the Centre for Performance Studies in Early Theatre, PLS operates in affiliation with the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies. PLS has toured in Canada, the United States and Europe. PLS also collaborates with the theatre history research project Records of Early English Drama at the University of Toronto.

PLS Productions, 1964–2013

1964
Everyman
1965
Wit and Science by John Redford;
St. George Mummer's Play;
Towneley Secunda Pastorum
1966
Gammer Gurton's Needle;
Mankynde;
A Christmas Revelles
1967
The Play of David;
Coventry Pageant of Shearman and Taylors;
Ralph Roister Doister by Nicholas Udall;
York Crucifixion Sequence
1968
Cambises by Thomas Preston;
Like Will to Like by Ulpian Fulwell;
Towneley Secunda Pastorum;
Towneley Cain and Abel, Noah
1969
The Digby Play of St. Mary Magdalene;
N-Town Adoration of the Magi, Death of Herod;
Towneley Slaughter of the Innocents, Flight into Egypt;
Chester Creation of the World, Noah's Flood;
Hycke Scorner
1970
The Somonyng of Everyman;
Planctus Mariae;
More Dissemblers besides Women by Thomas Middleton;
Mankynde;
The Four PP by John Heywood;
Towneley Prima Pastorum
1971
The Imposture by James Shirley;
Johan Johan by John Heywood, and Once More
Pericles by William Shakespeare;
Lancelot of Denmark and Dame Sirith;
Three Towneley Nativity Pageants
1972
Filius Getronis;
Towneley Mactacio Abel, Noah;
Witt and Wisdome;
Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue by Ben Jonson;
N-Town Assumption of the Virgin;
Towneley Last Judgment
1973
A Re-enactment of the Coronation and the Mass of Henry V;
York Baptism, Temptation;
N-Town Women Taken in Adultery, Colifizacio, Scourging, Crucifixion;
The Franklin's Tale, The Washtub
1974
Fulgens and Lucrece;
Towneley The Talents, The Resurrection;
Officium in Nocte Resurrectionis, Music at the Time of Petrarch;
Pierre Pathelin;
Towneley Secunda Pastorum, York Herod Plays
1975
Magnyfycence by John Skelton;
The Sport of the Friar, The Sport of the Drunken Monk by King Mahendra;
Arden of Faversham
1976
Sampson Dux Fortissime;
Bassingham Mummer's Play;
The Dance of Death by John Lydgate;
Towneley Judgement
1977
Two Cain and Abel Plays ;
Visitatio Sepulchri;
Mankynde;
The York Cycle
1978
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare;
Johan Johan by John Heywood;
The Dead Man, The Hot Iron and The Stolen Shrovetide Cock by Hans Sachs;
Nice Wanton;
A Mummer's Play;
A Renaissance High Mass
1979
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare;
A Winter's Revels;
The Castle of Perseverance;
13th Century Spanish Music;
The World and the Child
1980
The Blessed Apple Tree;
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare;
Robin Hood and the Friar;
Towneley Murder of Abel, Abraham and Isaac;
The Brome Abraham
1981
Tom Tyler and His Wife;
The Toronto Passion Play;
Hyde Park by James Shirley
1982
Ralph Roister Doister by Nicholas Udall;
Towneley Noah and Secunda Pastorum;
Fool Surgery;
The Pie and the Tart;
Johan Johan ;
Edward II by Christopher Marlowe;
The Fleury Slaughter of the Innocents;
Aminta by Torquato Tasso
1983
The Play of Daniel;
The Chester Cycle of Mystery Plays ;
Wit and Science by John Redford
1984
La Calandria;
Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe;
Man's Desire and Fleeting Beauty;
Coventry Christmas Plays
1985
N-Town Death of Herod;
The Dead Husband
The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare;
The Towneley Cycle of Mystery Cycles ;
Wealth and Health;
Towneley Nativity Sequence
1986
The Nun Who Left Her Abbey;
Watkins Ale;
Confessions of Rifflart;
King John by William Shakespeare;
York Nativity Sequence
1987
A Fourteenth Century Easter Matins
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
1988
The N-Town Pageants: A Medieval History of the World ;
Homo;
Like Will to Like by Ulpian Fulwell;
The Presentation of the Virgin by Phillipe de Mezieres
1989
Gammer Gurton's Needle;
The Quack Dentist
1990
The Feast of St. Ursula: Lauds and hymns of Hildegard von Bingen;
Everyman;
Jesuskind: Christmas Vespers and Procession
1991
A Looking Glasse for London and England by Thomas Lodge and Robert Greene;
Wisdom;
No Wit, No Help Like a Woman's by Thomas Middleton;
Jesuskind: Christmas Vespers and Procession;
Youth and Hickscorner
1992
N-Town Assumption of the Virgin;
Robin Hood and the Friar
1993
Le Jeu de Robin et Marion;
The Widow's Tears by George Chapman
1994
The Digby Conversion of St. Paul;
A Mery Play betwene Johan Johan the Husbande, Tib his wife, and Sir Johan the Preest;
A Yorkshire Tragedy
1995
Mankind;
Occupacion and Ydelnesse;
Four episodes from the York Cycle: Annunciation, Joseph's Troubles, Nativity, Shepherds;
The Play of Daniel
1996
Three episodes from the York Cycle: Fall and Expulsion, Temptation of Christ, Crucifixion;
Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare;
N-Town Trial of Joseph and Mary and Towneley Second Shepherds' Play;
The Wandering Scholar from Paradise by Hans Sachs
1997
The Joy of Sachs: The Doctor with the Big Nose, The Wandering Scholar from Paradise, The Stolen Shrovetide Cock;
Towneley Noah's Ark;
Gammer Gurton's Needle
1998
The York Cycle ;
Coventry Shearmen and Taylors' Pageant;
The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd
1999
Chester Antichrist ;
The Woman In the Moone by John Lyly
2000
Arden of Feversham
2001
Aminta by Torquato Tasso ;
The Conversion of the Harlot Thais by Hroswitha of Gandersheim;
Robin Hood and the Friar
2002
Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare
2003
The Digby Mary Magdalene;
The World and the Child;
The Chester Shepherds
2004
The Chester Antichrist;
The Old Wives Tale by George Peele;
Don Juan, Ladykiller of Seville;
The Second Shepherd's Play and Officium Stellae
2005
Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay by Robert Greene;
Joseph's Trouble About Mary and Jesuskind: Christmas Vespers and Procession
2006
Jesuskind and The York Nativity; King Leir, The Famous Victories of Henry V, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay
2007
The True Tragedy of Richard the Third ; The N-Town Parliament in Heaven and Annunciation
2008
Ram Alley by Lording Barry; N-Town Plays Trial of Mary and Joseph and The Woman Taken in Adultery
2009
Clyomon and Clamydes ; A Child Shall Be Born: Annunciation and Nativity Pageants from the Chester Cycle
2010
Inside Out: The Persistence of Allegory in Renaissance Performance ; Chester 2010 ; What Light Is This? A Medieval Nativity Pageant
2011
New Custom: A New Interlude, No Less Witty than Pleasant ; To Seek a Child
2012
Behold the Time of Mercy: Medieval pageants for Lent ; A Christian Turn'd Turk by Robert Daborne ; A Medieval Christmas: Go We Hence to Bethlehem’s Bower
2013
Three Farces from Three Lands
2014
Fulgens and Lucres by Henry Medwall