Mark St. Germain Brings C.S. Lewis & Sigmund Freud Together

by Barry David Horwitz

When we enter the luscious, high-ceilinged, Victorian salon at the Berkeley City Club, we are plunged into Freud’s iconic study in London in 1939. The radio is blaring Hitler’s ugly speeches from Germany. Air-raid sirens reverberate as Nazi planes drop bombs on London.

It’s a thrilling setting. Freud (Harrison Alter) has moved from Vienna to London to escape the Nazis. The elegant English room is fitted out with his famous sofa, covered in lush Persian rugs. Freud has arranged small statues of ancient religions around the room. It’s elegant and cluttered with fascinating books and souvenirs from Egypt, Italy, Greece. Freud is fascinated by ancient cultures.

Into this exquisite room, comes C.S. Lewis (Steve Alesch), a young Oxford scholar who argues for the humane values of English Christianity. Lewis, later the author of famous fantasy stories made into popular movies, argues vividly for the role of God and religion in preserving human values against the Nazi threat.

The two men look and act right at home in the old-fashioned, smartly appointed study—on the day in 1939 that England entered WW II. We are swept up in their passionate debate and their clash of personalities from the first moment. Our intrigue with their characters and their ideas carries us through for the 75 minutes of the tight, passionate debate between two world-shaking heroes.

As Freud approaching his last days on earth, Alter embodies a man who is skeptical, anxious, and combative. He has seen too much: “We cannot survive without enemies.” We are hypnotized by a man so thorough in his research and beliefs that he is hard to budge. He notes that “Hitler claims he is working for God—raising an army of thousands.” How do you fight an enemy who claims to speak for God?

On the other hand, the younger Lewis, in Alesch’s charming incarnation, insists that he’s anti-tyrant, having suffered under a brutal father. He yearns for escape from patriarchy. But Freud says to Lewis: “Grow Up!” One has Revelation, while the other has Science—how can the two come together?

When the war news interrupts on the old radio, they are both shocked.

Freud turns down the music between the news reports. Lewis argues, “You object to being moved.” And Freud tries to refute him—but the subtle direction by Enrico Banson leads us in new directions. We are led to new ideas and new resolutions by the highs and lows in their subtle and intellectual debate. The play flows by like a hypnotic conversation between two wonderful, opposed characters.

If you can possibly get to see this unique and moving performance by two superb actors, get to the historic Berkeley City Club at once. It’s a memorable and important event.

 

“Freud’s Last Session” by Mark St. Germain, directed by Enrico Banson, production assistant Michael Carlos Gutierrez, by The Royal Underground Theatre Company, at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley.  Info: BerkeleyCityClub – to October 27, 2024.

Cast: Steve Alesch & Harrison Alter.

Banner photo: Steve Alesch (C.S. Lewis) & Harrison Alter (Sigmund Freud)