W;t
W;t
Alternative Title: Wit
Author: Margaret Edson
First Performance: 1995, Costa Mesa, California
Published: 1993
Genre: Drama without act or scene divisions
Setting: US hospital, 1990s
Cast: 4 m, 2 f, extras
In dialogue scenes, monologues, and flashbacks, we follow the experiences of Vivian Bearing, a 50-year-old professor of 17th-century poetry, from the diagnosis of advanced ovarian cancer to her death about a year later. Professor Kelekian recommends the full force of chemotherapy for eight months, so that Vivian can make a ‘significant contribution to research’. As her hair drops out, she becomes nauseous, and her immune system is eradicated, it becomes clear that her ‘treatment imperils [her] health’. The endless waiting is almost unbearable: ‘If I...
[The entire page is 394 words long]
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