{"id":237690,"date":"2015-05-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/lewis-and-freud\/"},"modified":"2015-05-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-05-01T07:00:00","slug":"lewis-and-freud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/lewis-and-freud\/","title":{"rendered":"Lewis and Freud"},"content":{"rendered":"

St. Germain\u2019s work receives a fine production in Coronado<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por Charlene Baldridge<\/p>\n

The Lamb\u2019s Players Theatre production of Mark St. Germain\u2019s \u201cFreud\u2019s Last Session<\/a>\u201d gives producing artistic director Robert Smyth a rare chance to remind audiences what else he can do, which is exceptional work as an actor. This play, in particular, suits him to a T. In the role of the much younger C.S. Lewis, director Deborah Gilmore Smyth cast Fran Gercke.<\/p>\n

The play is set in 1939 London.<\/p>\n

Suffering terminal cancer, noted atheist and father of modern psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, having fled Vienna and the Nazis a year earlier, requests a visit from the recently converted former atheist Lewis, who is soon to achieve fame with his books \u201cThe Chronicles of Narnia\u201d and \u201cThe Screwtape Letters.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Lewis and Freud, Gercke and Smyth make sharp-witted sparring partners, one representing faith and the other, intellect. Laughs abound and there is much common ground.<\/p>\n

\"C.S.<\/a>
C.S. Lewis trades barbs with Sigmund Freud in Lambs\u2019 Players \u201cFreud\u2019s Last Lesson\u201d
(Photo by Nathan Peirson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gercke presents an insecure, physically ill-at-ease Lewis, who would have been 41 at the time. His appointment with Freud in Hempstead, NW London, coincides with Germany\u2019s Sept. 3, 1939, invasion of Poland.<\/p>\n

Believing he\u2019s been summoned because he wrote something that offended the 83-year-old Freud, Lewis is apprehensive and defensive. He never achieves any sense of ease. Gercke fails to thoroughly evince Lewis\u2019s deep humanity and genuine concern. Granted Lewis is young, but in his own way equal to Freud\u2019s greatness and genius. As the two-handed dialectic unfolds, it\u2019s as if Lewis still feels inept and unequal. He is appalled, perhaps, but certainly not at a loss.<\/p>\n

Smyth\u2019s Freud is extraordinarily touching as the great man in the extreme, final phase of the disease that has eaten away his jaw. Freud is almost too proud to ask for help. The 11th hour scene in which Lewis is forced to come to Freud\u2019s aid somewhat redeems St. Germain\u2019s largely cerebral play.<\/p>\n

If such an imagined 90-minute engagement, beautifully designed by Brian Prather, is your cup of tea, \u201cFreud\u2019s Last Session\u201d will delight you as well as students of either or both men. It\u2019s a perfect fit for Lamb\u2019s audiences.<\/p>\n

\"freud\"<\/a>The play was written St. Germain and was suggested by Dr. Armand Nicholi, Jr.\u2019s, \u201cThe Question of God.\u201d Nathan Peirson is lighting designer, Juliet Czoka, the costume designer, and director Deborah Gilmour Smyth doubles as the sound designer.<\/p>\n

Last October this off-Broadway play was produced by North Coast Repertory Theatre with Bruce Turk as C.S. Lewis and Michael Santo as Sigmund Freud. Comparisons are indeed odious, but observing the differing interplay of the two productions in close proximity is a special treat for the theatergoer. Each has its virtues.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Charlene Baldridge ha estado escribiendo sobre las artes desde 1979. Puedes seguir su blog en charlenebaldridge.com<\/a> o llegar a ella en charb81@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St. Germain\u2019s work receives a fine production in Coronado By Charlene Baldridge The Lamb\u2019s Players Theatre production of Mark St. Germain\u2019s \u201cFreud\u2019s Last Session\u201d gives producing artistic director Robert Smyth a rare chance to remind audiences what else he can do, which is exceptional work as an actor. This play, in particular, suits him to […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":237691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Lewis and Freud","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}