Freud's Last Session -- Hartford TheaterWorks -- Thru Feb.23
All Photos by Lanny Nagler
Eavesdropping can have its rewards,
especially if the people you are listening to have something interesting –
perhaps even a bit shocking – to say. What if, for example, you’re situated so
that you can both watch and hear two erudite men talk about such things as sex,
religion, fantasy, pain, suffering, suicide, the existence of an afterlife, the
existence of God and the meaning of life? What if these two men are Sigmund
Freud, the father of psychiatry, author of “The Future of an Illusion” (the illusion
being organized religion),and an avowed atheist, and C. S. Lewis, author of,
among other books, “The Case for Christianity,” “Miracles” and “The Chronicles
of Narnia”? Sound intriguing? Well, you don’t have to dangle off an eave or
crouch down in the bushes to hear these two men have at each other, all you
have to do is go to Hartford TheaterWorks, where Mark St. Germain’s “Freud’s
Last Session” is running under the direction of Maxwell Williams until February
23.
The meeting St. Germain chronicles
never really happened, but it’s one of the wonderful “What ifs?” of American
theater (it won the 2011 Best Play Award from the Off-Broadway Alliance), for
it not only offers audiences the clash of two great minds, but also the double
framing devices of a looming world war and Freud facing his own demise as he
struggles through the painful last stages of oral cancer.
As Germany
invades Poland , Freud
(Kenneth Tigar) sits in his office in London
(admirably crafted in delicious detail by set designer Evan Adamson) awaiting
the arrival of Lewis (Jonathan Crombie). Freud’s wife is out shopping and his
beloved daughter, Anna, also a psychiatrist, is off giving a lecture. When
Lewis appears, the younger man immediately begins to apologize for the
caricature of Freud he included in one of his books, believing this send-up is
the reason Freud has asked to see him. He’s a bit deflated when Freud admits he
has never read the book. What actually interests the ailing octogenarian is
Lewis’s eschewing of atheism and embracing of Christianity. How can such a
learned man subscribe to such damaging, childish myths?
What follows in this 90-minute,
one-act play, is a lively and sometimes heated discussion of topics (both the
sacred and the profane) that interest these men, a discussion in which they
give as much as they take, Lewis often exercising his wry sense of humor and
Freud resting on the “proofs” offered by science and what he believes is
immutable logic. Punctuating the arguments are radio broadcasts announcing the
start of the war (including King George VI’s address to his subjects chronicled
in “The King’s Speech”) and Freud’s growing agony exacerbated by a prosthetic
device in his mouth.
Jonathan Crombie as C. S. Lewis
Part of the pleasure to be derived
from watching as the conversation unfolds is the excellent work done by both
Crombie and Tigar. Crombie gives us a Lewis somewhat in awe of Freud who
nonetheless will not allow himself to be browbeaten or overwhelmed by his
interlocutor’s “logic.” Crombie often uses subtle glances, restrained gestures
and the hint of a smile to punctuate his arguments. His character, challenged
by Freud, maintains a surface composure broken only when he recalls his service
in the First World War.
Kenneth Tigar as Sigmund Freud
If Crombie gives us a Lewis in
total control of his emotions (and his body language), Tigar creates a Freud
whose passion for his work and confidence in his beliefs lead to minor
eruptions of anger, frustration and disbelief as he questions the younger man’s
belief in a God who allowed His son to be crucified and, more importantly, allows
the world to plunge itself into another war. His emotions rise and fall, as do
his hands, which point, clench and seem to plead the psychiatrist’s case.
The two actors give us fire and ice
as their characters inch towards an understanding of sorts. Especially moving
is a scene that occurs near the end of the play when Freud is almost
overwhelmed by pain and allows Lewis to extract the prosthesis, something Freud
has heretofore only allowed his daughter Anna to do. This intimate moment is so
satisfying because it sheds the intellectuality the two characters have wrapped
themselves in and exposes their shared humanity.
Director Williams deftly
orchestrates this exercise in morality and mortality, utilizing all of the
space allowed in Adamson’s triangular set. However, there are moments,
especially early on in the play, when the two actors appear to be locked in
place – it is only in these moments that the actors seem to be delivering lines
at each other rather than to each other. However, this occurs
rarely, for as the discussions advance (and Freud’s pain grows) dialogue and
movement gel and support each other.
A minor point with Adamson’s set.
He might have considered using non-reflective glass in some of the framed
photographs. One photo, of Charles Darwin, sits on a table stage right – in the
opening night performance the table was nudged several times such that the
frame moved, thus reflecting light from one of the spots out into the audience.
Somewhat distracting.
The movement of actors and props
are minor points in an otherwise compelling production that will keep playgoers
riveted, for we all have doubts about our beliefs, fears about our mortality.
What Freud and Lewis discuss and argue about is the stuff of life, the enigmas and
conundrums that taunt and tantalize the human mind.
“Freud’s Last Session” runs through
Feb. 23. For tickets or more information call 860-527-7838 or go to
www.theaterworkshertford.org.
