“Wit” (thoughts)

I don’t often read plays. It’s not a conscious decision, more that I’m quite comfortable in my novels/nonfiction/short stories genres, and there aren’t many plays being reviewed on blogs I read, so I just don’t come across them frequently.

But when I saw Rebecca’s review of Margaret Edson’s “Wit”, which she reread as a favourite, I knew I wanted to read it right away! (I think that’s my favourite of the Summer Lovin’ Challenge-finding out what bloggers’ favourite books are.) Rebecca’s review is wonderful and intelligent (as always), so I recommend you go read it.

As for me, I loved “Wit” from the beginning when the main character, Vivian Bearing, addresses the audience. While I think that’s a risky technique in novels, it really worked for the play, drawing me in immediately. Vivian is such a wonderful character; she’s one of those old school professors, the kind you take classes with despite knowing it’ll be a ton of work and probably mess up your GPA, because she gives you a glimpse of a academia at its best.

In the opening, she’s in the final stages of a deadly cancer, and while there are a few flashbacks in the play, most of it takes place in a hospital. Vivian’s struggle to remain herself in the most times dehumanising hospital environment affected me deeply. When I first became sick in high school, it took over a year for them to diagnose me, and I met with countless doctors and had almost every test performed on me known to man. While there were exceptions, most of the doctors and nurses I met with treated me less like a human with feelings and thoughts than like an automaton doll presented as an interesting study. I was at a teaching hospital, so they often brought other random people in to learn, making me feel like even more of a lap specimen. I hated it so much. Vivian has a rare form of cancer, and she’s on an experimental treatment, so her doctors are not only treating her but writing up her case for a medical journal; you can imagine what that feels like.

Vivian’s academic career has been the center of her life (she doesn’t have a family), so her memories center about it. She was a literature professor, specialising in John Donne’s poetry, and an ardent reader, which I think will make her appeal to all of us book bloggers. :) That being said, this isn’t a feel-good play. After all, Vivian’s dying, and she’s quite lonely (she doesn’t have many visitors), in tremendous pain, etc. Edson’s ability to evoke emotions, to have Vivian talk about so many big things without ever falling into cliche, is quite frankly stunning. I cried at quite a few places, so you should be prepared.

That being said, there’s nothing gratuitous about the emotions. Edson’s play made me think about my own life and priorities, imagining how I would feel in Vivian’s shoes. I don’t think there’s higher praise I can give to an author than that, and I will definitely be revisiting this play in the future. It apparently won the Pulitzer, and for good reason. While I’m sure it would be incredible performed, it stands on its own. Edson’s writing is so strong it leaps off the page, with Vivian immediately coming to life. This is a short read, and one I highly recommend. And isn’t that cover gorgeous?

Do you have any plays to recommend?