Jay Cross [Sept 7 2002]

Badges in a heraldic sense are similar to a trademark in modern times. There was a time in the SCA when heralds spent a lot of time researching submissions to make sure that they were sufficiently distinct from all other registered badges that it took a long time for a submission to get passed. ICOD submitted a badge, and was lamenting how long they had to wait, and how many modifications they needed, for it to pass. Thus this show.

A plot point for this show was that Dottore Gratiano ate several pastries in Pantalone's kitchen just before the Doge's visit. Unfortunately one of them was not a cookie at all, but was a very expensive, one of a kind, badge of the office of the Doge. All known medieval methods of purging this thing through his system were employed. This included several scenes in which Arlecchino was to give him an enema [off stage]. Jeff Hatalsky created a series of three enema devices [roughly pint, half gallon, and five gallons]. The cast and props department was instructed to not let me [the Dottore] see the largest of these until the scene in act three in which it appeared, in hopes that a real expression of fear and concern might cross his face and body language. This ploy did not work very well, since I knew I would never be receiving an enema from this thing. Oh well, it was worth a shot.