The Last Supper portrays Jesus’s final gathering with the apostles. Tableau III of the Procession text published in 2011 brings together the consecration of bread and wine, the announcement of betrayal and the farewell. This is the version described here, rather than a reconstruction of every staging.
The table in the Cenacle
Two apostles prepare the table and the other disciples enter. Jesus presides standing, according to the stage direction. He raises the bread and chalice while the apostles adopt a respectful attitude. The scene gives theatrical form to the Christian meaning of the Eucharist.
Judas and the announcement of betrayal
Jesus announces that one of those present will betray him. The apostles ask whether he means them, until Judas speaks and receives an affirmative answer. When Jesus offers him a piece of bread, Judas takes it and throws it to the ground before fleeing the Cenacle. This gesture and the accompanying verses appear in the 2011 script.
Peter and the farewell
After Judas leaves, the script portrays the institution of the Eucharist within the Christian account of the Last Supper. Jesus also warns that the disciples will abandon him. Peter protests, but Jesus predicts his three denials. The farewell ends with an embrace of the apostles; Jesus leaves with Peter, John and James. The next tableau in the book is the Sanhedrin.
The washing of feet and Christian tradition
The washing of feet is a Gospel episode associated with the Last Supper and service to others. This tradition must be distinguished from tableau III edited in 2011: the published passage described here does not include a foot-washing scene. We do not attribute it to this script simply because it belongs to the Christian account of Maundy Thursday.
Seeing and hearing the Last Supper
The Last Supper can also be understood through the audience’s experience. Maite Poch Roviras remembers that, at an earlier stage, visibility was not equal from every section of the square. Her account helps explain why the development of the stage and audience seating belongs to the history of the performance.
This memory does not describe a general problem today, or establish the dates of every improvement or a single person responsible for them. The Last Supper’s dialogue can be checked against tableau III of the text published in 2011: the script records words and actions, while spectators’ memories explain how the scene was seen and heard in earlier periods.
Sources for this addition
La Processó de Verges, 2011 edition, tableau III. Interview with Maite Poch Roviras in the Memòria Viva La Processó project, analysed as part of this research.
