[NEohioPAL] Two Rave Reviews for the Amazing FREUD'S LAST SESSION with Brian Zoldessy & Keith Stevens

[Neil Thackaberry]

*Theater review: ‘Freud’s Last Session’ at Actors’ Summit*

By Kerry Clawson
Beacon Journal staff writer

Published: March 5, 2013 - 10:30 PM



Sparring about the existence of God creates fascinating drama at Actors’
Summit in Akron in the absorbing play *Freud’s Last Session*, by Mark St.
Germain.

This work gets into the inner psyches, belief systems and hearts of two
seminal figures of the 20th century — Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis — as
they engage in a battle of intellect in Freud’s London study. Given such
weighty topics, St. Germain never ventures too far into the highbrow, but
rather delivers an entertaining play full of humor and heart.



Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, has fled Nazi persecution in Austria
and has invited young Oxford professor Lewis to visit him. The year is
1939, on the day England enters World War II. In Freud’s beautifully
appointed study, designed by Rory Wohl with numerous richly colored Persian
rugs, the psychotherapist’s comfy-looking couch is ever present.



Actors Brian Zoldessy and Keith Stevens create subtle humor as Freud and
Lewis tease each other about who needs to lie on the couch. One of the
greatest things about this play is that the two characters take turns
rising to the top in their intellectual power struggle, with each at times
needing the couch as he reveals his deepest fears or pain.



Zoldessy, a theater professor and director at Cuyahoga Community College,
brilliantly brings to life Freud’s crusty, dry humor as well as his
physical infirmity at age 83. The sparring is more friendly than
adversarial, as these men ultimately prove that they respect each other.



Under Neil Thackaberry’s direction, the chemistry in this two-man show is
delightful. Zoldessy, making his Actors’ Summit debut, has an impressive
resume including work on and Off-Broadway as well as in TV and film. (Eight
years ago, his work was unforgettable as the neurotic, mentally disabled
Arnold in *The Boys Next Door* at Porthouse Theatre.)



Stevens, a regular at Actors’ Summit, is a multitalented actor who always
delivers an excellent performance. The two actors have the famous Actors’
Studio in common: Stevens is a lifetime member after studying there in New
York, and Zoldessy has been associated with the Actors’ Studio both in New
York and in Los Angeles.



Zoldessy evokes Freud’s curmudgeonliness and Stevens paints a more proper,
restrained Lewis. A big commonality is their resentment of their fathers:
Freud despised his Orthodox Jewish father as a “bitter failure” and Lewis
disliked his tyrant father intensely.



This fictional story, suggested by *The Question of God* by Dr. Armand M.
Nicholi Jr., occurs 20 days before Freud’s death. It is a study in
contrasts, as Freud suffers from inoperable oral cancer and Lewis is headed
toward the high points of his career, having not yet written *The
Chronicles of Narnia* or *The Screwtape Letters*. St. Germain employs rich
language and brutal imagery as Lewis speaks of the hell of World War I and
Freud, at times choking on his own blood, reveals the physical agony of
having his upper jaw replaced by an implant.



So why has Freud invited Lewis to his home? The psychoanalyst reveals that
he wants to learn how an intellectual can “abandon truth and embrace an
insidious lie’’ — what he calls religion.



Zoldessy’s Freud argues vehemently against religion, yelling that God
cannot be proven historically. Lewis says his religious conversion was slow
but his belief in Jesus as the son of God is now simple.



“Things are simple only when you choose not to examine them,’’ Freud
counters. That’s just one of the volleys in their debates about religion,
morality, war and sex.



In *Freud’s Last Session*, Zoldessy and Stevens play a moment of panic
beautifully, when air raid sirens go off and the men scramble for gas
masks. This scene reveals that Lewis, recently converted to Christianity,
is not comfortable about meeting his maker and Freud, who had said he is
ready to die, really isn’t.



This drama is a work of fiction but it explores some of the weightiest
issues of 1939 Europe. Against the backdrop of World War II, it captures a
tumultuous moment in world history and brings alive what might have been,
had such a meeting between these two cultural giants actually occurred.



Arts writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or
kclawson at thebeaconjournal.com.




*Freud’s Last Session*

WJCU radio review for Arts On The Heights

By Fred Dolan

   Hello, Cleveland. This is Fred Dolan for Arts On The Heights.

   I was delighted when I heard that Actors Summit in Akron was
producing *Freud’s
Last Session*, the off Broadway hit from a few years ago.

   *Freud’s Last Session* is an imagined meeting between Freud and C.S.
Lewis.

The setting is Freud’s home in England. It’s September 3, 1939, the day
that England enters the war against Germany and Hitler. Freud and his
family were Jewish and left Germany after his daughter Anna was
interrogated by the Nazis in 1938. Freud is also dieing of mouth cancer. He
is extremely uncomfortable with an upper jaw prosthesis that causes
chaffing and bleeding. He will be dead in a few weeks.

   Freud has invited Lewis to his study to question him over why he
abandoned atheism and embraced the Catholic church. During the course of
the one act meeting, world history, personal history, and where God fits
into the mix are all part of this fascinating exercise.

   The two men respect each as they joust verbally - each one scoring
points. With no clear cut winner, it’s a great meeting of the minds.,
Intelligent, fascinating and entertaining stuff for the brain.

   For this play to work, you need two pretty equal heavyweight actors to
slug it out with each other and Brian Zoldessy as Freud and Keith Stevens
as Lewis are terrific together.

Each maintaining an unshakable view on whether God does or does not exist,
yet almost always keeping the discussion on an intellectual level.
Zoldessy’s Freud is beautiful mix of his physical discomfort and old age as
he approaches death, coupled with Freud’s undiminished mental ability, with
a hint of whether there may be a God. It’s a memorable performance.

   Steven’s C.S. Lewis is properly British with a bit of hero worship
thrown in for Freud, but also a man firm in his convictions. As the British
might say, “Well done!”

   If exciting theater is your game, make the trip to Akron.

   *Freud’s Last Session* runs Thursday through Sunday through March 17.
The theater is located in downtown Akron in Greystone Hall at 103 S. High
Street and features free, guarded parking.

   For complete details, visit actorssummit.org.

   This is Fred Dolan for Arts On The Heights.
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