one of the men who revolutionized 20th century thinking was Sigmund Freud, father of psychoanalysis and in Freud’s last sessioninterpreted by Luis Machín, the author Mark St. Germain imagines him in a meeting with the British academic CS Lewis (author of the Chronicles of Narnia), in a dialogue on religion, love, the existence of God and the meaning of life.
The conversation between two intelligent men, with points of view almost at odds with each otherit takes place in a very particular context: everything happens in Sigmund Freud’s house in London, on the same day that England enters the Second World War.
To give life to these characters are Luis Machinlike Freud, e javier lorenzo as Lewis, directed by Daniel Veronese, in the version that appears in the Picadero. The opera is already a classic that premiered in New York in 2010 and has had versions in many cities around the world.
roles reversed
In Buenos Aires, Veronese himself conducted another earlier version with jorge suarez playing Freud and with Machín in the role that Lorenzo plays today. In those laps of life (and theatre), Machín now takes on the role of the legendary psychoanalyst to give life to a controversial, influential and charismatic character.
Fleeing the advance of Nazism in Vienna, Freud moved to England in 1939 where spends the last phase of his lifesuffering from cancer of the larynx. The staging places the action in Freud’s London home, attentive to the news announcing the outbreak of the Second World War.
In this context the sets and costumes are impeccable, providing the ideal setting to fully enter the climate of the time.
An elderly Freud is visited by the young professor CS Lewis with whom he strikes up a controversial dialogue on the subject fundamental questions of life. The arguments of the protagonists follow one another as in a ping pong of ideas, where there is no shortage of irony and black humor.
At the same time, the grim news of war that radio brings, the false alarms of German bombing and the imminent proximity of horror that give this debate extra meaning and depth.
a questioning man
Freud questions the conversion to Christianity of the former atheist Lewis who, in turn, questions some concepts of Freudian thought. The round trip has the richness of both points of view, also crossed by the undeniable reality that prevails in the simplest and most everyday.
The strength of a story, desire, fantasies, fetishism, suicide, the figure of the father, are the themes that emerge, always with the ghost of war and death lurking outside the window. And indoors, with the disease Freud suffers from, latent.
Precisely, important information is the state of health of Freud who wears a prosthesis on the palate that causes him pain, especially when he speaks. The common disease of the man of extraordinary thought humanizes him, makes him an earthly being, they end up shaping a profound work about two men who live and discuss the great themes of all time.
Despite the rhetoric that both deploy, the debate becomes a simple and candid conversation between two people looking for the same thing: find meaning in the absurdity of life. And where nor a sense of humor, in spite of everything.
To accomplish all this, of course it is essential to have solid and credible performance like those of Machin and Lorenzo. The Freud played by Machín is believable, acid, astute and even manages to move with the suffering that, despite trying, he finds it impossible to hide.
Lorenzo’s counterpoint succeeds very well to finish giving shape and weight to the duo, with Veronese’s accurate, detailed and lucid direction, as always.
File
Freud’s last session
Qualification: Very good
Launch: Luis Machin, Javier Lorenzo. Direction: Daniel Veronese functions: January: Thursday to Sunday at 20:00 In February, Friday at 22:00, Saturday at 20:00 and Sunday at 19:00 Living room: Picadero Theater, Pje Santos Discépolo 1857. locations: $4000.
WD extension
Source: Clarin
