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The lives of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) overlapped, and this play imagines what might have happened had they met. It is an intriguing premise. Comedy writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran envisaged four fictional encounters between the two historical figures. Given their previous work on television comedies such as Birds of a Feather and Goodnight Sweetheart, one might expect something in the spirit of Mel Brooks' Springtime for Hitler. However, Dr Freud Will See You Now, Mrs Hitler aims for a more serious tone. It applies Freud’s psychoanalytic theories to Hitler’s pathology and suggests that he may have used treatises such as Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego as a guidebook for his rise to power. Unfortunately, in comparison to the extensive literature on Hitler’s psyche, such as Fritz Redlich’s Hitler: Diagnosis of a Destructive Prophet and Ron Rosenbaum’s Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil, the play feels rather shallow. Its portrayal of Hitler’s so-called father issues as the root of paranoid delusions, narcissism, and sexual inadequacy seems overly simplistic. The depiction of both central characters leans toward caricature. The tone is occasionally parodic but never quite succeeds as comedy. A proposed flirtation between Anna Freud and Hitler feels forced, and Anna’s intermittent role as narrator comes across as dramatically awkward. While Dr Freud Will See You Now, Mrs Hitler presents a clever concept and raises some interesting ideas, it ultimately falls short as both satire and psychological drama.
Rated: ★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Simon Jackson
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