Wit
Wit is one of those dense, literary-allusion filled plays that comes off well on stage, and, I imagine, even better on paper. Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize winning play – the only play this Atlanta, Georgia, teacher ever wrote – is debuting on Broadway, courtesy of the Manhattan Theatre Club. Lynne Meadows directs a tight and moving production starring the fearless Cynthia Nixon. Nixon plays Vivian Bearing, a professor of 17th century poetry (she’s particularly taken with the work of John Donne). It’s 1995 and Bearing has been diagnosed with advanced stage ovarian cancer. Her doctor recommends an aggressive and experimental course of chemotherapy. Throughout the ordeal, this rigid, private scholar has to learn to cede control, open up and, ultimately, find her humanity. Throughout the play, no matter if Bearing is in present day or playing herself as a five year old (Bearing often breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the audience, sort of meta-ly aware that she is perfor...