FREUD’S LAST SESSION
Scenic Artist | Cloth Painter
KING’S HEAD THEATRE - London | DIRECTOR - Peter Darney | Designer - Brad Caleb Lee
Freud’s Last Session follows a conversation about the existence of God. It exhibits thought provoking questions and debates, placing the idea of God under examination. The set juxtaposes the physical with the conceptual, placing Freud’s traditional office within a more abstract location of a painted cloth featuring imagery relating to both war and Christianity.
I was the primary scenic artist for this show and therefore was responsible for painting this cloth. I worked within a tight timeframe to prepare and paint the cloth with as much detail as possible.
Using Rosco paints mainly with spray guns, I recreated the reference image to the best of my ability. Following the completion of the cloth, I assisted Brad in London with the production’s get in, helping to hang the cloth and dress the rest of the set.
PRODUCTION PHOTOS
Photos by Alex Brenner
Process
Reviews
“Just as this play exhibits elements of reality, grounded firmly in fantasy, Freud’s studio is familiar at a squint and translated here by Brad Caleb Lee. Lee has designed a charming surrealist carpet of telephones, long-legged lions and cigar cannons to sit Freud’s famous couch and writing desk. This gives adequate playing space for director Peter Darney, who has done a very good job at bringing to life an afternoon between scholars in peace-time.”
Everything Theatre | 2022
“Having achieved some off-Broadway acclaim, Darney brings his production to London set in Freud’s study on 1 September 1939. Freud’s daughter Anna sought to recreate her father’s Vienna consulting room in Hampstead and designer Brad Caleb Lee provides a flavour of both crowding his desk with religious artefacts from numerous civilisations, oblique art works and a painted floor that combines dreamscapes and surreal images with classical religious imagery, much of which is referenced in and helps to set the scene for this meeting of two great minds.”