Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Pamela Vogel as Vivain Bearing in W;t

Houston Press – 4/3/08 

At first glance, Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play could be a downer of colossal proportions: not only does its leading character, Dr. Vivian Bearing, die from ovarian cancer, which we witness with horrid precision and clinical intimacy, but Professor Bearing is also the foremost authority on the 17th-century metaphysical poet John Donne -— "death be not proud," "no man is an island" and other heady, religious thoughts — and throughout the play we are treated to snippets from her probing lectures and random thoughts on Donne's "Holy Sonnets." This has every intention of transforming into the most insufferable of dramas, like something meaningful and good for you from Public Broadcasting. But Edson performs the miraculous: harrowing as it ultimately is, she makes the act of dying entertaining and full of grace.

Bearing's only passion in life is Donne; she has no lover, no family, no friends, and is fiercely proud of her immense intellect and cognitive skills. However, these will do her no good as she screams in pain from the treatments meant to cure her. Self-absorbed lovers of research and as dedicated as she to pure knowledge, her doctors dissect her malady with as much unemotional precision as she once used to parse the great Jacobean poet. Neither art nor science, Ms. Edson states with utter felicity and theatrical know-how in her dexterously intelligent and playful play, is of much comfort when one faces death. Everything boils down to a great essence: a kind word or a soothing deed. In Texas Rep's sublime rendition, Pamela Vogel, as Vivian, is show-stoppingly radiant: icy, Olympian, witty and, at the end, all too human as she heads into the light. Edson's play is equally redeeming and triumphant, and must not be missed.  — DLG.

WIT at The Texas Rep

ArtsHouston Magazine      April 8th, 2008

by Nancy Wozny

Truthfully, I have been avoiding Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, Wit, for the same reason I waited until just recently to watch Schindler’s List. I thought it would be too hard to watch, because you know, cancer is the ultimate downer. Well, I finally decided to suck it up and do the hard stuff and made it to see the Texas Rep’s production of Wit.

It takes no such stamina to get through this play which is as funny as it is poignant. Edson’s play traces the last year of professor Vivian Bearing, a professor of 17^th century poetry who specializes in the holy sonnets of John Donne. Does, “Death be not proud” ring a bell? It doesn’t for much of the staff at the hospital where Vivian finds herself after being diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer. The colliding of the clinical and the poetic worlds make a rich soup here. Vivian’s deconstruction of the dreaded question, “How are you doing today,” provides fodder for much analysis, contemplation, and endearing comedy.

Pamela Vogel is positively luminous as Vivian and reason alone to hop on I-45 and head north. Vogel captures Vivian’s relentless intelligence in her razor-sharp performance. The play may be heavy, but she’s light, charming, and portrays each deepening dilemma as if it were some kind of cosmic puzzle. Vogel takes us on Vivian’s journey with the same kind of transcendence Donne employed. Justin O’Brien is convincing as Vivian’s former student turned oncology researcher, and Jan Saenz nails the chipper nurse, Susie.

Jan Saenz and Pamela Vogel in W;T

Julia Traber stays close to spare nature of the material, letting Vivian have the full stage for her well lived and ultimate death. Gregg Buck’s sleek hospital room, along with Danielle Almeida Wilson’s lighting, recreate a sterile hospital environment. Hardly a place to discuss Donne, nevermind die.

This is a splendid production of a great play—be a grown-up and go see it.