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REED-L Members,

I’m posting the following query for Alan Baragona. If you have a response to share, please make sure to “Reply All” or contact Alan via email at [log in to unmask]

Thanks much,

Gloria
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I've posted this on the MRDS Facebook page, so some of you may have seen it already.

I'm trying to find out how the Poculi Ludisque Societas 1979 production of The Castle of Perseverance handled the entrance of Soul.

I know U. of Toronto has a full-length film of the play, but I don't see any way to get access to it. The PLS's video documentary is available at only at VCU's library in Virginia, where I live, and they understandably won't make that available through ILL. I have all the 95 photos from the production, available on Flickr, that show they have a child playing Soul in a smaller version of the costume Mankind/Humanus Genus wears, but there is no still of him under the Castle bed. I've searched the PLS online archive for a description of the production but can't find anything but the date and the pictures. Similarly, a search of Google Books, WorldCat, JSTOR, and Project Muse didn't turn up any description detailed enough for what I need.

The photos show that the bed is draped in such a way that someone could lie under it unseen, but that doesn't mean the child actor necessarily lay there for 3,000 lines till his entrance. And, as in the Middle Ages, it's an outdoor performance in the round, so an actor walking in and getting under the bed right before the character's entrance would be fully visible to the audience, which, of course, is perfectly possible since this isn't exactly Ibsen-style Realism.

Did anyone actually see either the original performance, the full-length film, or the documentary and remember how they handled this performance choice? If not, do you know how I can get ahold of either film without driving over 100 miles? Most libraries have it on VHS, but VCU has a DVD of it, and I'm surprised that nobody has made it available digitally for streaming.

Thanks in advance.
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Gloria J. Betcher, Ph.D.
Adjunct Associate Professor of English
Department of English
Iowa State University
419 Ross Hall
Ames, IA 50011

Office phone: (515) 294-3026