Freud's Last Session
date. May - November, 2013
venue. various, Ottawa & Eastern Ontario
credits. Mark St. Germain, Dr. Armand M. Nicholi Jr.
The Canadian premiere of this winner of the “2011 Off-Broadway Best Play”, Freud’s Last Session centers on legendary psychoanalyst Dr. Sigmund Freud who invites the young, rising Oxford Don C.S. Lewis to his home in London. On the day England enters World War Two, Freud and Lewis clash about love, sex, the existence of God, and the meaning of life, just weeks before Freud took his own life. Freud’s Last Session is a deeply touching play filled with humour and exploring the minds, hearts and souls of two brilliant men addressing the greatest questions of all time.
The invasion of Poland in September of 1939 commenced just days before the day (September 3) on which the play is fictionally set.
On the same day in history on which the story takes place (September 3, 1939), King George VI delivered a speech, upon which the Oscar winning movie “The King’s Speech” (2010) is inspired.
“Freud’s Last Session is a thought-provoking and stimulating play... It was easy to suspend disbelief and imagine we were eavesdropping on a pair of jousting passionate intellectuals... This is a very worthwhile play to go to, especially if you enjoy intellectual stimulation.” ~ Barbara Popel (Apartment 613)
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK
“Freud’s Last Session was witty, relevant, and intriguing. Highly recommend seeing it...”
“I saw Freud’s Last Session with my teenage children last evening. We found it thought-provoking, edifying and moving.”
“For ninety minutes, I laughed and I cried, and I was so intensely involved in the play that the time flew by…."
“There were some parts of the dialogue which were so deep that I felt that I would like to have pushed a freeze-frame button to stop the play for time to digest the script and collect my thoughts.”
THE ARTISTS
GEORGE DUTCH (Cast - Sigmund Freud) | JONATHAN HARRIS (Cast - C.S. Lewis) | BETH LAKE (Original Sound Designer) | SUSAN MARRINER (Graphics Designer) | MEGAN PIERCEY MONAFU (Artistic Consultant) | PATTI VOPNI (Production Designer)
THE PRODUCTION TEAM
CLAUDE HACHÉ (Production Photographer) | JONATHAN HARRIS (Producing Artistic Director) | LOGAN MILLER (Stage Manager) | SARAH NIEMAN (Assistant Stage Manager) | ED VOPNI (Set Builder) | PATTI VOPNI (Associate Stage Manager) | RACHEL-DAWN WALLACE (Production Stage Manager)
THE CREW
BRENDA BLANDFORD (Sewing) | SALMAN SHAFI (Audio Visual) | SAM SMITH (Prosthetist) | CLAUDE HACHÉ, BETSY JOHNSON, BEN MACMILLAN, MATT MCKECHNIE, BRUCE NARBAITZ, MARK TURCOTTE, ED VOPNI, DANIEL VOPNI, JULIA VOPNI, PATTI VOPNI (Set Transportation) | LAURA BARKLEY, CHRYSTAL CANN, DALE COBURN, COLLEEN EDWARDS, TIM EDWARDS, KATE GOVER, BETSY JOHNSON, EVELYN JOST, KAREN LEYENAAR, PETER LEYENAAR, ANDREW MCDOUGALL, BRUCE NARBAITZ, DAVE SMITH, MARK TURCOTTE, ED VOPNI, LAURIE WALLACE, RACHEL-DAWN WALLACE (Front of House)
