Date: Fri 21-Nov-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DONNAM

Quick Words:

Long-Wharf-Wit-Edson-theatre

Full Text:

(rev "Wit" @Long Wharf Theatre)

Edson's Rebellion In Body & Spirit Is Honest

(with photo)

By Julie Stern

NEW HAVEN -- Unfortunately, many people who have spent time in large hospitals

have discovered how dehumanizing an experience it can be for a sick person.

From the causal indifference of arrogant technicians who administer the

assembly line array of tests, to the perfunctory cheerfulness of doctors who

hide behind mountainous reams of data so as to avoid having to make meaningful

eye contact with a frightened patient, the confrontation with one's own

mortality is too often a lonely and terrifying encounter.

Margaret Edson's powerful, and at times hilarious play, Wit , tackles this

issue head on. Wit continues on New Haven's Long Wharf stage through November

30.

In a stunning performance, Kathleen Chalfont portrays Vivian Bearing, PhD, a

university professor who has been diagnosed with stage four metastatic ovarian

cancer. Although the doctors know from the outset that her case is incurable,

they have prescribed an eight-month course of aggressive chemotherapy, not

because they expect it to save her life, but because the data they collect

will add to the body of cancer research and perhaps lead to a better

understanding of the nature of the disease.

The play focuses on Vivian's valiant attempts to maintain her integrity, in

the midst of pain, exhaustion and degradation that the treatment entails.

The title has multiple layers of meaning. "Wit" can mean verbal humor, which

Vivian uses as a defense. Barefoot, wearing only a skimpy hospital gown and a

red baseball cap to cover her baldness, she teases the staff, mocks herself,

and shares confidential sarcastic asides with the audience, demonstrating the

practiced skill of a master teacher, and in so doing, retains the power of her

personality.

"Wit" is also a word for intelligence; a quality Vivian has always valued as

her supreme endowment. Her intelligence fueled her successful career in

academia, and led her to specialize in the work of John Donne, one of the most

intellectually complex poets of all time.

In his Holy Sonnets , Donne wrestled with the Big Metaphysical Questions, the

ones that deal with God, the meaning of suffering, the fear of death, and the

desire for immortality. Donne used his mastery of "wit" to articulate

paradoxes and ambiguities -- would a loving God condemn humans to eternal

punishment? Written primarily for the entertainment of his family and friends,

Donne's sonnets are in fact densely packed logical puzzles that demand intense

examination and analysis before they can be fully grasped.

Vivian's learned interpretations of these sonnets have built her reputation as

a scholar, and have made her 17th Century Poetry class as rigorously demanding

as it is popular. Now Vivian is confronting these same metaphysical questions

in a 20th Century world, where the best minds of the age go not into

philosophy or poetry, but into biochemistry and the knotty problems of cancer

research, personified by the ambitious Medical Fellow, Dr Jason Posner, who is

in charge of her treatment.

Ironically Dr Posner once had Professor Bearing for a teacher. As an

undergraduate, he had taken her poetry class, in part to be able to show on

his medical school application that he was well rounded, but also because he

wanted to prove he could get an A in the hardest course in the university.

He greets her with recognition and respect. Initially it appears this handsome

and confident young man is ideally suited to be her doctor. However, it soon

becomes apparent his genuine brilliance is limited to physiological phenomena.

Faced with the human dimension of illness he backs off in confusion.

Vivian, who has always prided herself on having chosen intelligence over

kindness -- who has never given an extension on an assignment, or cut any

slack for a slow-thinking student -- and whose personal ties have always been

limited to academic friendships, begins to realize for the first time the

limitations of intelligence alone, and the importance of compassion.

This coincides with the emergence of the character of Susie Monahan, RN.

Coming across initially as a bit of an airhead, treated with patronizing

flirtatiousness by the doctor, it is Susie who pays real attention to Vivian.

With empathy and compassion she responds to the pain and fear and loneliness.

She listens to Vivian's questions and gives honest answers, unobfuscated by

jargon. Knowing there will be no cure, she offers comfort and companionship in

the small terrible hours of the night.

Playwright Edson, who is currently a first grade teacher, earned degrees in

history and literature from Georgetown while working in a research hospital.

Wit , which has won numerous awards, rings with truth. In its juxtaposition of

the separate worlds of modern medicine and metaphysical poetry, it also

resonates with the ambiguous complexity of Donne himself.

There was a standing ovation for both the play itself and for the performance

of Kathleen Chalfont, as well as for the work of Alec Phoenix and Paula Pizzi

in the other two principal roles.