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Wit | Introduction

According to Margaret Edson, her play Wit somehow just popped into her head. In an article written by CNN's Jamie Allen, Edson says, "You're just writing down the things people say…. That seems very interesting and natural to me…. I'm fascinated how people's spoken language expresses their own selves. So to write a play you just have to listen." And according to all the critical praise (not to mention the Pulitzer Prize), Edson must be a very good listener.

Edson did most of her listening for this play while working in the cancer ward of a research hospital. Here she was forced to witness the dilemmas that face both the patient and the patient's medical team in dealing with acute disease, the application of radical medical treatment, and the effects of these treatments on the patient's life, as well as the constant awareness of the possibility of imminent death. The main character in Edson's play has ovarian cancer, a type of cancer that, if it is not caught in the initial stages, few women survive. In order for research doctors to find a cure, they must experiment with different kinds of drug treatments. Edson's play looks at the ethics behind this need and the consequences of this need upon the patient

Although the topic of the play sounds grim, Edson says that the play is about love and knowledge, grace and redemption. She uses the word wit not so much to convey a sense of comedy (although there are several moments of intelligent humor) but rather to reflect the natural ability to perceive and understand. In order to convey all these concepts, Bdson says, she had to write about their opposites. "So the play is about miscommunication and misunderstanding and posturing and arrogance." During an interview with Charles Osgood on CBS News' Sunday Morning, Edson states, "It's about everything that's the opposite of grace and kindness."

The play is a play about death and dying, but what seems to have impressed audiences is the lesson the play presents for the living. The London Times sums up the play as being "moving, funny and wise about the limitations of the intellect and the value of the heart." Wit has been produced all over America as well as in international theaters.

Wit Summary

Beginning
Edson's play Wit begins with the main character, Vivian Bearing, entering an empty stage, pushing an IV (intravenous) pole. She is dressed in two hospital gowns (one with the opening to the front, the other to the back) and a baseball hat. She is thin, barefoot, and hairless. She turns to the audience and talks to them directly, first with a false sense of pleasantry, then in her more usual formal manner. Her first line is "Hi. How are you feeling today?" This line will be repeated throughout the play by various characters, most times exemplifying the undertone of the play, which is that even though these words are spoken, their speakers do not listen to or care about the answer.

Within the next few minutes of the play, the entire drama is placed before the audience. They learn who Bearing is, what she has done with most of her life, and that in less than two hours (the length of the play) she will die of ovarian cancer. Bearing introduces the ironic tone that will run through the play, as well as the obvious theatrical trickery (as in the actress stepping out of character to address the audience) that will prevail.

Next enters Dr. Harvey Kelekian. This scene is done in flashback to the time that Bearing is first told that she has cancer. Kelekian delivers his news to Bearing in very technical terms and in a very dry tone. In response, Bearing challenges Kelekian's choice of words, exposing her trait of retreating into her intellect in order to avoid her emotions. Kelekian continues divulging all the medical terminology of her disease, while Bearing voices (out loud) her thought process. She must read up on cancer, she tells herself, and assemble a bibliography—much as she would do if she were researching a literary topic.

Then Kelekian and Bearing talk directly to one another. Kelekian says, "The tumor is spreading very quickly, and this treatment is very aggressive. So far, so good?"... » Complete Wit Summary