Saturday, February 4, 2012

Theater Review: Wit

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Moving Portrait of a Woman in the Fight of her Life
By Lauren Yarger
The stark white hospital walls represent the lonely atmosphere and bleak diagnosis for life -- or what's left of it for this woman -- in a hospital. Also the backdrop for memories and her attempts to find wit and dignity through the process, the walls are bolstered by columns -- a reminder of the poetry and intellect that just might see her through cancer.

This deeply moving picture, designed by Santo Loquasto,  is part of Manhattan Theatre Club's excellent Broadway production of Wit, Magaret Edson's Pulitzer-prize winning play about a 50-year-old poetry professor trying to find the rhyme in life after being diagnosed with fourth-stage ovarian cancer. 

Dressed in a hospital gown and booties (Jennifer von Mayrhauser, costume design) and sporting a red baseball hat to cover a bald head, Vivian (a perfect Cynthia Nixon) shares her experiences in the guise of writing a play, which she shares in running outline form with the audience as she is handed off for various treatments or remembers interactions with people from her past (Pun Bandhu, Jessica Dickey, Chike Johnson and Zachary Spicer fill in for the various characters).

One memory evokes an early professor, E.M. Ashford (Suzanne Bertish), who first piqued Vivian's interest in John Donne. Vivian is now an authority on the 17th-century poet, known for his complex wit. She draws upon it and his poem, "Death Be Not Proud," which takes on a more personal meaning.

Dr. Harvey Kelekian (Michael Countryman) orders eight months of aggressive chemotherapy and hands Vivian off to Fellow Jason Posner (Greg Keller), who happens to be Vivian's former student. It soon is apparent that both doctors have very little compassion for Vivian as a person. They see her as a subject from whom to collect data for research that will bring them fame. Decisions about treatment, and even about whether to prolong her life, seem more motivated by that than by concern for the patient. The question, "How are you feeling today?" and Vivian's and the audience's response to it get funnier by the moment as she withstands severe nausea, pain and loneliness throughout the process and it's pretty obvious that she's not feeling very well today.

Comfort comes from an unexpected source, however: nurse Susie Monahan (Cara Patterson). She genuinely cares for her patient, giving her options to think about and running interference with the doctors. Nixon's performance is riveting, whether she's talking about the delights of munching on an ice pop or to invoke the last means of control she has over her life by declaring herself DNR (Do Not Resuscitate).

Edson's script is brilliant. Lynne Meadow provides excellent direction (though the very final scene seems staged rather than a natural progression of the action). Otherwise, Meadows attention to small details enhances the plot and draws out excellent performances across the boards. Definitely one of the highlights of the season -- catch it at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th St., NYC before it closes March 11. Discounted tickets are available by clicking here.

Christians might also like to know:
-- Lord's name taken in vain
-- Nudity (briefly at the very end of the play)
Posted by Lauren Yarger at 1:05 PM

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My Bio

Lauren Yarger is Executive Director/Producer with Masterwork Productions, Inc. She has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the 2000 Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists.

Yarger trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Three-Day Training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run.

In 2008 she was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She writes reviews of Broadway and off-Broadway theater with an added Christian perspective for Masterwork Productions at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/. She is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection (http://ctarts.blogspot.com), an award-winning website featuring theater and arts news for the state. She is a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com and previously served as Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp and as Connecticut and New York reviewer for American Theater Web.

Yarger is a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly and freelances for other sites. She is a member of the National Book Critics Circle.

She is a freelance writer and playwright and member of The Drama Desk, The Outer Critics Circle, The American Theater Critics Association and The League of Professional Theatre Women. She is a judge for the SDX Awards presented by the Society of Professional Journalists. She also is a member of the CT Press Club, the Connecticut SPJ and the Connecticut Critics Circle.

A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger also worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. She lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

Copyright

All material is copyright 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 by Lauren Yarger. Reviews and articles may not be reprinted without permission. Contact reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com

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Key to Content Notes:

God's name taken in vain -- means God or Jesus is used in dialogue without speaking directly to or about them.
Language -- means some curse words are used. "Minor" usually means the words are not too strong or that it only occurs once or twice throughout the show.
Strong Language -- means some of the more heavy duty curse words are used.
Nudity -- means a man or woman's backside, a man's lower front or a woman's front are revealed.
Scantily clad -- means actors' private areas are technically covered, but I can see a lot of them.
Sexual Language -- means the dialogue contains sexually explicit language but there's no action.
Sexual Activity -- means a man and woman are performing sexual acts.
Adultery -- Means a married man or woman is involved sexually with someone besides their spouse. If this is depicted with sexual acts on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.
Sex Outside of Marriage -- means a man and woman are involved sexually without being married. If this is depicted sexually on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.
Homosexuality -- means this is in the show, but not physically depicted.
Homosexual activity -- means two persons of the same sex are embracing/kissing. If they do more than that, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.
Cross Dresser -- Means someone is dressing as the opposite sex. If they do more than that on stage the listing would include the corresponding "sexual activity" and/or "homosexual activity" as well.
Cross Gender -- A man is playing a female part or a woman is playing a man's part.
Suggestive Dancing -- means dancing contains sexually suggestive moves.

Other content matters such as torture, suicide or rape will be noted, with details revealed only as necessary in the review itself.

The term "throughout" added to any of the above means it happens many times throughout the show.

Our Reviewing Policy

Our reviewer Lauren Yarger receives free tickets to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows made available to all voting members of the Outer Critics Circle and The Drama Desk, the two professional critics organizations with journalists covering NY theater. Journalistically, she provides an unbiased review and is under no obligation to make positive statements. Sometimes shows do not make tickets available to reviewers. If these are shows our readers want to know about (we review all Broadway shows and pertinent Off-Broadway shows), Masterworks purchases a ticket.

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