THEATER REVEIW: Freud's Last Session

The Next Stage’s production of FREUD'S LAST SESSION proved that you can take a play about two men debating about the existence of God and turn it into an evening of great enjoyment. Of course, it helps if the two men are Jewish atheist Sigmund Freud and the recently converted Christian, C. S. Lewis. 

 

The play is set in September, 1939. Freud is dying of mouth cancer and the young Lewis has yet to become famous for his books on Christianity. In the background, Nazi Germany is making moves to overtake Europe.

This does not sound like the subject for a play that would have a sold out house completely enthralled. The reaction to lines, the silence in the room, and the sound of enthusiastic applause at the final curtain call must have been very satisfying to the people involved in the production.

The success of the evening falls on several shoulders. First of all, the script is inspired. The dialogue was lifted from various works by the two men and reassembled to make for an argument that might have actually happened. The slight animosity at the start transformed into respect by the final scene.

Director Richard Biever gets credit for taking what is basically two people sitting in a room talking and making it a vibrant exchange. The stage in the Attic is rather small and easily crowded by sets. The actors made good use of the space; movement was very natural. 

 

The actors captured their characters amazingly well. Without question Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis are two of the best known intellects of the modern world. Therefore, we all have in our minds a physical and emotional image of them.

Lloyd Short was Freud. Not only did he look the part, but I felt that he had the wry sense of humor that suited Freud. I appreciated that his “accent” never got in the way of his lines. It was there but not overpowering to the point of lost lines. He was very believable.

C.S. Lewis was played by Chris Hults. (Here I have to insert a personal note; I have a case of hero worship of Lewis and would take any deviation of his character personally.) On Hults’ entrance I felt that he seemed hesitant and ill at ease. Then I remembered that the year was 1939 and Lewis was “just” a professor at Oxford, not the world famous creator of Narnia or Screwtape. He would have been self-conscious and a little awkward to meet the famous Doctor Freud. His memories of his father and of his time in the Second World War were very believable. Hults also captured the humor that is such a big part of Lewis’ work. As the play progressed he became “Jack” Lewis for me. 

 

Last night the air conditioning system was not as good as it should have been; in other words, the Attic was hot. It says much for the actors and the material that the audience was captivated by production despite the heat. The laughter came full and often.

FREUD'S LAST SESSION will be at the State Theatre, in the Attic, until July 28^th. Sunday performances are both matinees. A warning to the wise: opening night was a sell- out. Do not wait.  For ticket information and more go to:  http://thestatetheatre.org/.