Theater
See This: Freud’s Last Session at Taproot Theatre
C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud face off in this Off-Broadway hit making its West Coast debut.
Photo courtesy Erik Stuhaug/Taproot.
The doctor is in And he’s hogging the couch. Matt Shimkus (left) and Nolan Palmer star in Freud’s Last Session.
The original title of the Off-Broadway play, Tea with Lewis and Freud, seemed a little too saccharine for this living room debate over the existence of God. Rather, Freud’s Last Session has been called a crackling “war of words” between C. S. Lewis—then a young Christian professor whose star was on the rise—and devout atheist Sigmund Freud, holed up in his London home as his career, and life, drew to a close. Playwright Mark St. Germain imagines their lively fictional banter with air raid sirens as the soundtrack; World War II marches into England, adding a sense of urgency to their dialogue about life, love, sex, and, inevitably, death.
Freud’s Last Session has been a hit Off-Broadway since it opened in 2010, and it’s making its West Coast debut at Taproot Theatre this weekend. Local actors Nolan Palmer and Matt Shimkus stand in as Freud and Lewis. Bring your ego and superego.
Freud’s Last Session
Mar 21 & 22 (previews), Mar 23–Apr 21, Taproot Theatre, $15–$37
