Wit: A Play by Margaret Edson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Wit: A Play
Book Review: A Miracle of Literature!
Summary: 5 Stars
This play, as performed to perfection by Ms. Edson, is, to me, a miracle of modern literature and a tour de force in acting. If I were a woman, I would move heaven and hell to play this role. I found it quite by accident as I was channel surfing one day. Ms. Edson's acting and outstanding wit stopped me in my tracks and I sat dumbfounded and delighted throughout the performance. Based on the subject matter alone, I would never have chosen such a title - but, my God, how grateful I am to have inadvertantly stumbled upon it. Having spent many long hours attending to friends diagnosed with AIDS (the experience is quite similar to endstage Cancer), this, for me, opened doors into what the patient is feeling and the miracle of the mind to associate and disassociate as necessary. If you have experienced the end days of a loved one from such a disease - you will thank your stars for this brilliant work!Book Review: A dazzling play that puts everything into perspective!
Summary: 5 Stars
If there ever was a play that deserved to win the Pulitzer Prize, this is the one. In this play, we are introduced to Dr. Vivian Bearing, Ph.D, John Donne expert. When she is diagnosed with metastatic ovarian cancer, she probes and studies how she has lived her life. Was it worth it? Was there something that could have been improved upon? Her assessment reveals a truer, greater picture of how all humanity should live life. Edson's use of medical vocabulary and knowledge woven with John Donne's poetry, as well as personal introspection, make this play all the more credible and emotionally satisifying.Book Review: Amazing
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the perfect book for an English major. The protagonist of the book, as a literature professor, utilizes literary and linguistic humor to relay her messages, making this the perfect read for those of us book nerds out there. Funny at times, touching at others, this play will have you crying and laughing simultaneously.Book Review: An Amazing Work Of Theatre
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the greatest things about live theater is how every now and then someone comes along and delivers a script that moves the art form ahead a few light years. W;t is exactly this kind of revolutionary work. I had the tremendous fortune to see it performed by the magnificent Kathleen Chalfant, and this show goes off inside of you like a depth-charge. It's a beautiful, moving piece about life and dignity -- a must-read that translates exceptionally well to the printed page. Read this script!!!Book Review: And death shall be no more, comma, Death thou shalt die
Summary: 5 Stars
Vivian Bearing is a PH. D, and that is very important to her. She must remind everyone about it most of the time. But in the place and position where she is, that doesn't count too much. She is not in the command of the situation. She is not the "Doctor" of this situation, this position belongs to a MD, and not her, since she is sick in a hospital. This is probably the first feeling that striker the character early in the play "W;t", by Margaret Edson.
Vivian has lived her whole life as the commandant, now, facing an advanced metastatic ovarian cancer, the character is forced to re-exam a lot of things in her life. For one, she must start to open up. That shell where she has lived her whole life isn't a protection anymore. Highly intellectually, a John Donne scholar, she is forced now to deal with emotional issues - things she has always avoided.
In her journey towards death and self-discovery, Vivan becomes another person. The reader/audience of "W;t" is invited to go in a painful, but beautiful, journey alongside the character. Not only does she bare herself physically, but also metaphorically, once the character has to come to terms with problems she assumed forgotten.
Edson writes the play astutely, placing it mostly in the hospital where Vivian is taking her treatment. Some flashbacks are useful to give more insight of who is the Professor and why she has become who she is. Donne's poems are efficiently used since the poet wrote exactly about what the main character is going through - the metaphorical experience of abandoning life and moving towards death. In one of his poems discussed in the play, the difference between life and death is just a simple comma, as if the punctuation mark represents the last breath itself.
The play writer has a special gift to portray the internal life and anxiety of her characters using monologues. The text never comes as boring or fake. Vivian's pain and joys are as real as her condition. "W;t" never becomes corny, and it is extremely beautiful and emotional. Edson has succeeded in blending both heart and mind, bringing to life a very complex character. The back of the book informs that she has worked in the cancer and AIDS unit of a research hospital. This background is very helpful to her to make believable the whole routine and Vivian's state of mind and body.
For its complex and powerful portrait of a soul, "W;t" was awarded with the Pulitzer Prize and many other prizes when it was staged. All kudos are more than fair to this magnificent work, that just like Donne's poems will become a classic, to be studied and reverenced for many years to come.