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Sabina Spielrein, Anna Freud, Lou Andreas-Salomé, Marie Bonaparte – Pioneer Female Analysts Who Challenged Freud’s Vision of The Feminine
The Players: Elliot Adler, Sarah Berry-Tschinkel (Author), Louise DeCosta (Creative Director), Lauren Friedman, Susan Quinn (Lead Author)
The relation of psychoanalysis, sexuality, and femininity is complex and laden with controversy. From its inception, psychoanalytic thought about female development was largely defined by men. Many of these first generation male analysts approached woman as a “dark continent” and femininity as a “mystery”. Freud himself puzzled with contradictory trains of thought.
Sabina Spielrein, Anna Freud, Lou Andreas-Salome, and Marie Bonaparte were among the intimate circle of Freud’s Women who challenged the main pillars of the 19th/early 20th century patriarchal social order.
The story of their unique relationships with Freud, the impact they had upon him as well as their personal struggles are presented as theatrical drama – in their own words based on exchanged correspondences. The inspiration for this play is the Freud Museum exhibition So this is the Strong Sex: Early Women Psychoanalysts (2018). Our goal is to bring the Museum’s visual installation to life.
