In the Beginning was the Word . . . `Das Prager Abendmahlspiel': the words rendered into action and images

Abstract

First there were the words and the written biblical, liturgical and apocryphal texts were made verbal by reading, preaching and singing in churches. Already at a very early stage the biblical events were made visual. The performances of medieval religious plays rendered the words into action and into images. They were written as part of a theological message and were intended to be an act of teaching and worship combined. Consequently their contents were common knowledge. The Prague Last Supper has only come down to us in a single 15th century manuscript that is in the Národní Knihovna in Prague. The play has the following scenes: the meal at the house of Simon the Leper, preparations for the Last Supper, the Last Supper, the washing of the feet and the appeal to go into the garden. The author is unknown, but he had knowledge of the Bible and he had a feeling for dramatic effects, even though the surviving text does not give us a complete picture of what was actually performed. He used the possibility of narrating events that seem difficult to perform and he shows originality in the selection, the sequence and the development of the scenes.