Freud's last session is written by Mark St. Germain. The Session is a fictitious session between Sigmund Freud and CS Lewis. The play was voted Best off Boardway in 2011. It is a well written dialogue play interweaving fact and fiction. The session is a debate between Freud and Lewis, it's main topic is on the subject of religion and the existence of God, though other subjects such as sexuality are briefly discussed. The play contains a lot of humour and historical references from the period.
Freud is dying of cancer, the session takes place two weeks before he takes his own life and the day Second World War is announced. Lewis has been invited by Freud as he is intrigued by his theories and though he is clearly in much pain, managing to conduct a lively debate. There is good use of live radio recordings from the time and the set and costumes are full of character from the period.
Henry Szeps plays Freud and Douglas Hansell plays Lewis. As the play revolves around the two characters and takes place as one continue scene; the whole play is reliant on the direction and acting of these two individuals. Sadly, Szeps though one of Australia's greats did seem to struggle with his lines and stage direction, whether this was first night nerves is it hard to say. Because of this it did lack some pace and many audience members did start to fidget towards the end. Hansell did well to keep the play moving and considering the number of lines both actors had to learn, you have to admire them for that.
Freud's Last Session is playing at the Theatre Royal, Sydney until 1 September.
