Freud’s Last Session is a dialogue in the truest sense. Two actors, alone on stage, duking it out verbally for an hour and a half without a break. How an audience member reacts is largely dependent upon how much tolerance he or she may have for talk talk talk.
The quality of the performances by actors Mark H. Dold and Martin Rayner are, however, unarguably superb. Through humor, conviction, and pure stamina, they keep going in fine style the ping pong match between the two charismatic characters on stage.
The plot, such as it is, hangs on a “what if?” premise. What if the unidentified young Oxford professor who visited Sigmund Freud in his London home had in fact been C.S. Lewis? The date here is September 3, 1939, the fateful moment when England entered World War II. Freud (Rayner) and Lewis (Dold) meet when the Father of Psychoanalysis is 83, and only two weeks away from his medically assisted suicide; the teacher, born in Belfast, is 41 and yet to write his greatest books.
They engage in an age old debate over the question which no mortal can accurately answer. Is there a God? Lewis, once an atheist but now a staunch Christian, believes that faith is what must guide our lives. Freud, who considered himself “culturally Jewish,” asserts that no one with a working brain can actually worship a supreme being.
Along the way, Freud suffers because of the prosthesis which has been made necessary by his mouth cancer. Lewis rushes to his aid, helping the older man to lie down, bringing him water.
But Lewis also points out the fact that Freud leans far too heavily on his daughter Anna. Freud cannot resist analyzing Lewis, and so, the conflict between these two brilliant men is never resolved, though we see the respect they come to feel for each other.
I love the artful little touches that Dold brings to his role. We can immediately relate his war experiences with the air raid that occurs during his visit to Freud’s home. He knows how to wear a gas mask, and how to help put one on another man. Dold also employs a hint of a brogue, just enough to flavor Lewis’s speech without being distracting.
Rayner expresses Freud’s physical pain so clearly that when he has an attack, the entire audience leans forward. He manages to convey feistiness, depression, and intelligence without resorting to flamboyant theatrics.
Both actors are well worth watching. I encourage audience members to read their biographies in the Playbill. These performers have honed their craft all over the country. Dold has accrued credits in L.A., San Diego, Chicago, Washington D.C., Connnecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Rayner lists stints in Pittsburg and Washington D.C. Both have extensive experience on Broadway, Off Broadway, and on TV. This is an actor’s life.
What performers give up in not having a permanent address and rarely knowing from whence they will get that next job, they make up for in a show like this. They seize the opportunity to enlighten and entertain us. At the performance I attended, both Dold and Rayner waited outside the theater to talk with whomever wanted to discuss the play. This is above and beyond the call of duty, especially when they’d expended so much concentrated energy, and no doubt wished to rest their voices.
So how do they remember all those lines? From years of experience spent honing their craft, learning how to break down a script, and trusting each other implicitly.
This is what actors do, and we are privileged to be in the theater when all those lines turn into magic on the stage.
Freud’s Last Session
New World Stages
340 West 50th Street
212-239-6200
Michall Jeffers is an accomplished Cultural Journalist. She writes extensively, both in print and online. Her eponymous cable TV show is syndicated throughout the tri-state area, and features celebrity interviews, reviews, and commentary. She is a voting member of Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, American Theatre Critics Association, and International Association of Theatre Critics.
