SIGMUND FREUD AND C. S. LEWIS IN ATLANTA

 

FREUD’S LAST SESSION SPARKLES

By Doc Lawrence

ATLANTA--Mark St. Germain’s play Freud’s Last Session, the longest-running Off-Broadway show was inspired by the book The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex and The Meaning of Life by Armand M. Nicholi, Jr. On this magnificent downtown Atlanta stage, two of the world’s most brilliant men, legendary psychoanalyst Dr. Sigmund Freud and rising Oxford professor C.S. Lewis address the greatest questions of all time and clash about love, sex, the existence of God, and the meaning of life, just weeks before Freud ends his own.

On the day of this imaginary 1939 meeting, Hitler has just invaded Poland, Neville Chamberlain is on BBC radio and Freud is dying of cancer. Two of the western world’s most renowned intellectuals face off in a debate (friendly, witty and tasteful) about their respective works and exactly where God fits in. The weighty issues are skillfully argued between 80-year-old Sigmund Freud and his guest, a younger intellectual C.S. Lewis.

Directed by Jessica Phelps West and starring Andrew Benator as C. S. Lewis and David De Vries as Sigmund Freud, the story is fast-paced, highly entertaining and propelled with exceptional visual authenticity by the magnificent set, a replication of Freud’s office in London.

Theatrical Outfit is not the place to find the ordinary. Under Tom Key’s visionary management, each season radiates with a rich mixture of the best plays presented anywhere in the South and Freud’s Last Session only enhances the company’s already stellar reputation.

The only regret-and a mild one- was watching someone other than Key portray C. S. Lewis. Since 1977, Tom Key has presented his one-man show C.S. Lewis On Stage to golbal acclaim.  It’s still the best view we have of C. S. Lewis.

More: www.theatricaloutfit.org