Le Jeu d'Adam


Le Jeu d'Adam is a twelfth-century liturgical drama written in the Anglo Norman dialect of Medieval French. While choral texts and stage directions are in Latin, the spoken text of the play is in the vernacular, which makes the Adam the oldest extant play written in any old French dialect. It is a dramatic representation of the temptation and fall of Adam and Eve, the story of Cain and Abel, and a series of prophets including Isaiah and Daniel. It is part of the medieval tradition of mystery plays, which developed from dramatic elements in the celebration of Mass, and includes choral music.
The opening statement of the piece describes part of the set:
The play was to be presented outside the church, possibly with Paradise being located at the top of the stairs to the west door, such that the church doors would stand in for the gates of Heaven.
The author of this play is unknown, although we can assume from his knowledge of Latin that he was in a religious position.

Modern performances

The 2009 English translation of the play by Carol Symes in The Broadview Anthology of British Literature was staged at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Cloisters Museum in New York City in December 2016. That production, directed by Kyle A. Thomas, also traveled to the campus of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign where it was filmed and made publicly available.