Imagining believable conversations between famous historical figures is not easy, but Mark St. Germain has created a lively, plausible and provocative 1939 dialogue between Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis in his witty new off-Broadway play, “Freud’s Last Session.”
With Europe in turmoil on the brink of World War II, the two great intellectuals — the elderly and ailing, world-renowned psychoanalyst and the youthful Oxford professor, an atheist turned Christian — go head to head in the dynamic, often-comical production.
Their profound, often touching conversation, while primarily a debate about the existence of God, also covers other major philosophical issues, such as the nature of love, morality and sex before marriage. Yet St. Germain, who got the idea for his play from the book “The Question of God,” by Armand M. Nicholi Jr., also includes personal discussions that humanize the two men.