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Three on a Couch is a 2004 play by Carl Djerassi and is partly based on his 1994 novel Marx, Deceased. It has also been performed under the title EGO. It is the first play in which Djerassi completely left out the world of natural science that coined his science-in-fiction and turned to explore the tribal culture of authors.

Plot
Stephen Marx, a New York bestseller novelist, has it all: fame, wealth, critical acclaim and a self-confident wife, Miriam, who works as a food artist. But Stephen is not yet satisfied. He plans to fake suicide in order to be able to read his own obituaries to learn how much he really is valued by critics and the public. In search of encouragement, he decides to tell his psychiatrist, Dr Theodore Hoffman (a possible reference to German romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann), about his plans. Hoffman, only referred to as “the Shrink” throughout the play, does not take him seriously and downplays his plans as untreatable narcissism.

A month later, Stephen supposedly having drowned in a sailing accident, Miriam Marx visits Hoffman in order to learn more about her husband’s love affairs. Erotic tension develops between them, climaxing in their common consumption of a mango. At the same time, Hoffman gets a visit from Stephen, who is full of pride as his obituaries have been to his satisfaction. He reveals his new plan to Hoffman: creating a new identity under the name of T.H. Lustig and writing another bestseller novel. By accident, Miriam discovers that she has been betrayed Feeling betrayed by both her husband and Hoffman decides to take revenge on Stephen. She finds a draft of his yet unpublished T.H. Lustig novel on his computer. She adds some sexual profanities and publishes it “posthumously”. The resulting lukewarm reviews soil Stephen’s reputation and make the publication under his pseudonym impossible. Now Stephen contemplates actual suicide.

Canonization
Having displayed the tribal culture of natural scientists in his earlier plays and novels, Djerassi now shows in Three on a Couch that very similar mechanisms exist in the world of literature. Authorship, posthumous recognition and identity are presented as the key issues writers struggle with. Stephen Marx is presented as a vain and ambitious author whose quest to enter the canon leads to megalomania.

Stephen’s role model is Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa, who created at least 72 heteronyms under which he wrote. Djerassi poses the question in how far the acceptance and perceived quality of a novel are in fact influenced by the author’s reputation. Stephen cannot live with the idea that his books are valued only for their author and not for their content. He claims to need “productive insecurity” and longs to create new literary identities in order to be judged and praised all anew. His secret goal is to enter the literary canon multiple times. Ironically, Stephen gets in the end what he did not expect from the public: a bad review of his “posthumous” novel that leaves a stain on his heritage.

Stephen’s desire to create a new literary career from scratch could be autobiographically influenced by Djerassi, whose literary fame is unlikely to ever exceed the reputation he acquired in the field of chemistry. Would his own books be published, read and reviewed if it was not for his scientific career?

Psychoanalysis
Within the play, Djerassi gives many allusions to the psychoanalysis of his Vienna contemporary Sigmund Freud; Miriam’s mango fork is the obvious example of a phallic symbol, eventually leading to a romantic encounter in Dr Hoffman’s office. The whole play is set in the psychiatrist’s office, and the dramatic and comic revelations Hoffman is offered by his patients quickly overwhelm his capacities. All his attempts to maintain professionalism and to respect the privacy of both Miriam and Stephen are doomed to fail.

Stephen’s dream of a fresh start also shows his struggle to find his identity. In faking suicide, he runs away from himself and his broken marriage by being somebody completely new. But the play demonstrates that it is never possible to escape the past completely, and that the new existence does not always fulfil its promises.

Productions
A special performance under the title “EGO” was staged by Andy Jordan in the London Freud Museum on July 28, 2003. Afterwards the production was shown at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2003, starring Jeff Harding as the Shrink.

The full version under the title Three on a Couch premiered March 16, 2004 at Kings’ Head Theatre in London. It was also directed by Andy Jordan, starring Rolf Saxon as Stephen Marx, Leigh Zimmerman as Miriam and Michael Praed as the Shrink.

The German language version titled EGO premiered October 14. 2005 at the Landestheater St. Pölten in Austria.

Three on a Couch came home to its setting, New York City, for its American premiere on May 28, 2008 at Soho Playhouse.

German WDR recorded a radio version in 2004.