Freud’s Women: A One-Act Play

Abstract

Freud’s Women:A One-Act Play Savyon Liebrecht (bio) Characters sigmund freud: (b. 1856) from ages thirty to sixty martha freud: (b. 1861) eighty years old, Sigmund Freud’s wife young martha freud: from ages twenty-one to thirty-seven minna bernays: (b. 1865) Martha’s sister, seventy-six years old young minna bernays: from ages seventeen to thirty-three paula fichtl: (b. 1902) the Freuds’ maid, thirty-nine; she moved with them from Vienna to London anna freud: (b. 1895) Sigmund and Martha Freud’s daughter, from ages twenty-three to forty-five London, September 1940, the present time of the play (It’s a year after freud’s death. Freud’s room in his London house is a copy of his room in Vienna. Through the window, a garden of English roses. Rainy weather outside. freud is sitting at his desk throughout the play, writing or smoking a cigar, except where otherwise noted. paula enters briskly, carrying a heavy wooden box and a red box on top of it. She puts them down on a small table and leaves. martha enters straining under the weight of a straw suitcase she’s carrying. paula enters with another box and sees martha.) paula: Put it down, Frau Professor. martha: In the house in Vienna, I knew where every napkin was. Here—I can’t find anything. (The suitcase falls out of martha’s hands. The handle breaks off and the contents spill out: papers, documents, photos. Some of the photos are framed. martha looks down helplessly at the scattered items.) paula: I’ll pick them up. (paula picks up the fallen items and puts them on the table. A bundle of letters escapes her eye and remains on the floor. martha goes to the table and begins looking through the documents. She seems lost.) [End Page 161] martha: Oh, where do I begin? (pause) Letters from Einstein … Thomas Mann … We need Anna for this. paula: She promised to come early today. (martha reads the label of the binder that she is holding.) martha: This is Anna’s analysis! I thought they destroyed it. (She picks up the red box and puts the binder inside it.) paula: Shall I bring the brown suitcase, too? martha: Yes, please. This one will fall apart during the move. paula: The move to where? Frau Professor, you said the Germans wouldn’t bomb London! martha: We are not moving anywhere. The important documents are going to be sent away. That’s why we need Anna. (pause) And my sister, how is she today? paula: But Fräulein Minna can’t help— martha: Of course not. Is she up yet? paula: Since early morning. martha: And she ate? paula: Not a lot. (paula sees three frames tied together with a thin string on the table. The top one holds a document. She looks at it and cries out in surprise.) paula: Dear God—the Professor’s birth certificate! (reads it) Sigismund Schlomo Freud—I didn’t know that his name was “Schlomo”— martha: Put it with his death certificate. (paula glances lovingly at the other two framed photos.) paula: Look, Frau Professor! Here are all the children and the Professor with Fräulein Minna on the day she came to live with you … with the shawl she always wore, the one with the long fringes … (martha goes over and takes the photos from paula’s hands.) martha: Daydreaming about Vienna won’t help us now, Paula. paula: I know … It’s just that the Professor has been gone for almost a year now—and he’s so much with us! (paula notices the bundle of letters on the floor and picks it up. martha recognizes the bundle and is visibly excited.) [End Page 162] martha: The letters … (martha holds the first letter up to her eyes and reads it.) Hamburg 1885 (young martha, holding the same letter in exactly the same way as martha, comes running into the room, followed by young minna. young minna skips around young martha, trying to snatch the letter away; young martha dodges her. They’re high-spirited and playful. freud, from his desk, watches them curiously.) young martha: Stop...