The Summoning of Everyman
Director:
Writer:
Cast:
Douglas Morse
Petrus Dorlandus
Paul Barry
Sally Conway
Seth Duerr
Uma Incrocci
Zainab Jah
George McGrath
Lynn Cohen
Richard Rose
Lindsay Taylor
With a cast of accomplished New York City actors, this movie is a revelation. Beautiful, moving, and at times unexpectedly comic, a welcome addition for anyone tackling the play. This movie is for students, scholars, film buffs, and fans of the medieval. The story of Everyman is a spiritual tale of aging, dying and death.
God instructs Death to collect the soul of Everyman and bring him to his final judgment. Everyman, unable to bribe Death, must then seek a companion to join him on his journey to face his reckoning before God. Abandoned by Fellowship, Cousin, Kindred, and Worldly Goods, Everyman approaches Good Deeds, who alone will accompany him to the very end of his journey.
The Summoning of Everyman has screened at
The International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds
Screen Media Seminar, University of Cambridge
The Medieval Forum, Plymouth State University
New York University Department of English
The Catholic University of America
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Comments
Helen Cooper, Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English, University of Cambridge
It was really interesting to see what had been done with the play: just the right degree of updating, I thought, so that it didn't grate as anachronistic but didn't seem just like a distant costume piece either. I'm not quite convinced about casting Everyman as old: Douglas Morse found an excellent actor who gets the message over forcefully, not least as to how deeply he is in denial, but with a young Everyman the audience would be in denial too. That kind of choice is the director's privilege, though, and it certainly works here. The original play was designed to make the audience think, and I hope that's the kind of thing they may still think about. It's excellent to see this great classic of human mortality brought back to life with such commitment.