PLS, or Poculi Ludique Societas, the Medieval & Renaissance Players of Toronto, sponsors productions of early plays, from the beginnings of medieval drama (see mystery play) 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 (CMS), 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 (REED) at the University of Toronto.
1964Everyman
1965Wit and Science by John Redford;St. George Mummer's Play;Towneley Secunda Pastorum
1966Gammer Gurton's Needle;Mankynde;A Christmas Revelles
1967The Play of David;Coventry Pageant of Shearman and Taylors;Ralph Roister Doister by Nicholas Udall;York Crucifixion Sequence
1968Cambises by Thomas Preston;Like Will to Like by Ulpian Fulwell;Towneley Secunda Pastorum;Towneley Cain and Abel, Noah
1969The 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
1970The Somonyng of Everyman;Planctus Mariae;More Dissemblers besides Women by Thomas Middleton;Mankynde;The Four PP by John Heywood;Towneley Prima Pastorum
1971The Imposture by James Shirley;Johan Johan by John Heywood, and Once MorePericles by William Shakespeare;Lancelot of Denmark and Dame Sirith;Three Towneley Nativity Pageants
1972Filius Getronis;Towneley Mactacio Abel, Noah;Witt and Wisdome;Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue by Ben Jonson;N-Town Assumption of the Virgin;Towneley Last Judgment
1973A 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
1974Fulgens 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
1975Magnyfycence by John Skelton;The Sport of the Friar, The Sport of the Drunken Monk by King Mahendra;Arden of Faversham
1976Sampson Dux Fortissime;Bassingham Mummer's Play;The Dance of Death by John Lydgate;Towneley Judgement
1977Two Cain and Abel Plays (Chester and Towneley);Visitatio Sepulchri;Mankynde;The York Cycle (48 separate pageants)
1978Romeo 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
1979Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare;A Winter's Revels;The Castle of Perseverance;13th Century Spanish Music;The World and the Child
1980The 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
1981Tom Tyler and His Wife;The Toronto Passion Play;Hyde Park by James Shirley
1982Ralph Roister Doister by Nicholas Udall;Towneley Noah and Secunda Pastorum;Fool Surgery;The Pie and the Tart;Johan Johan (puppet production);Edward II by Christopher Marlowe;The Fleury Slaughter of the Innocents;Aminta by Torquato Tasso
1983The Play of Daniel;The Chester Cycle of Mystery Plays (24 separate pageants);Wit and Science by John Redford
1984La Calandria;Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe;Man's Desire and Fleeting Beauty;Coventry Christmas Plays
1985N-Town Death of Herod;The Dead HusbandThe Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare;The Towneley Cycle of Mystery Cycles (32 separate pageants);Wealth and Health;Towneley Nativity Sequence
1986The Nun Who Left Her Abbey;Watkins Ale;Confessions of Rifflart;King John by William Shakespeare;York Nativity Sequence
1987A Fourteenth Century Easter MatinsSir Gawain and the Green Knight
1988The N-Town Pageants: A Medieval History of the World (21 separate pageants);Homo;Like Will to Like by Ulpian Fulwell;The Presentation of the Virgin by Phillipe de Mezieres
1989Gammer Gurton's Needle;The Quack Dentist
1990The Feast of St. Ursula: Lauds and hymns of Hildegard von Bingen;Everyman;Jesuskind: Christmas Vespers and Procession
1991A 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
1992N-Town Assumption of the Virgin;Robin Hood and the Friar
1993Le Jeu de Robin et Marion;The Widow's Tears by George Chapman
1994The Digby Conversion of St. Paul
1995Mankind;Occupacion and Ydelnesse;Four episodes from the York Cycle: Annunciation, Joseph's Troubles, Nativity, Shepherds;The Play of Daniel (Joint production with The Toronto Consort)
1996Three 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
1997The 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
1998The York Cycle (48 separate plays);Coventry Shearmen and Taylors' Pageant;The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd
1999Chester Antichrist (modern-dress);The Woman In the Moone by John Lyly
2000Arden of Feversham
2001Aminta by Torquato Tasso (co-production with University of Toronto Graduate Centre for Study of Drama);The Conversion of the Harlot Thais by Hroswitha of Gandersheim;Robin Hood and the Friar
2002Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare
2003The Digby Mary Magdalene;The World and the Child;The Chester Shepherds
2004The Chester Antichrist;The Old Wives Tale by George Peele;Don Juan, Ladykiller of Seville;The Second Shepherd's Play and Officium Stellae
2005Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay by Robert Greene;Joseph's Trouble About Mary and Jesuskind: Christmas Vespers and Procession
2006Jesuskind and The York Nativity; King Leir, The Famous Victories of Henry V, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (in association with Shakespeare and the Queen’s Men)
2007The True Tragedy of Richard the Third (co-production with the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama); The N-Town Parliament in Heaven and Annunciation (co-production with SINE NOMINE)
2008Ram Alley by Lording Barry; N-Town Plays Trial of Mary and Joseph and The Woman Taken in Adultery
2009Clyomon and Clamydes (co-production with the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama); A Child Shall Be Born: Annunciation and Nativity Pageants from the Chester Cycle
2010Inside Out: The Persistence of Allegory in Renaissance Performance (co-production with the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama); Chester 2010 (Chester Mystery Plays); What Light Is This? A Medieval Nativity Pageant (York Mystery Plays; co-production with St Thomas’s Anglican Church)
2011New Custom: A New Interlude, No Less Witty than Pleasant (co-production with the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama); To Seek a Child (Chester Mystery Plays; sponsored by Friends of the Creche at the Cathedral Church of St James)
2012Behold the Time of Mercy: Medieval pageants for Lent (N-Town Plays; co-production with St Thomas’s Anglican Church); A Christian Turn'd Turk by Robert Daborne (co-production with Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies); A Medieval Christmas: Go We Hence to Bethlehem’s Bower (N-Town Plays; co-production with St Thomas’s Anglican Church)
2013Three Farces from Three Lands (The Farce of the Fisherman by Cornelis Everaert, The Stolen Shrovetide Cock by Hans Sachs and Johan Johan The Husband by John Heywood)
2014Fulgens and Lucres by Henry Medwall