Theater Review: Wit

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)