Julie Hesmondhalgh gives an emotional and gripping performance, switching between her personae of academic expert and v ulnerable patient. Yet the story which unfolds is not unfailingly bleak. It shows us Vivian, stripped of all her books and comforts in a stark and utilitarian hospital bed.
The s taging for the play is simple but effective and much use is made of the revolve to show the day to day grind of hospital wards and medical tests which she has to endure. Wit is a one Act play so the story which unfold s ha s no breaks, no respite, like Vivian's illness. She has been admitted to hospi tal and is now an isolated figure, quite alone. As the play progresses, she shows us snatches from her dealings with her students when her studies were more important than they, as people, w ere. John Donne's metaph ysical poems have been her subject matter. A respected academic who specialises in 17th Century verse, particularly that by John Donne, she has spent her entire professional life researching and teaching. The central character, Dr Vivian Bearing, introduces herself to the audience at the beginning and leaves you in no doubt as to the eventual progn osis. If I did award star ratings, it would have to have 5. What a surprise I had then, to see one of the most emotionally charged and uplifting plays I have seen.
I knew little about it before I went to see it and what I did know was slightly off-putting, as it centres around a terminally ill cancer sufferer. Wit was first performed in 1997 and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize two years later.
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