Reasons to seek out Hub Theatre’s lovely production of
Margaret Edson’s WIT (playing through Nov. 19th): First, Liz Adams’s
astounding performance as the fearless professor ambushed by terminal cancer. Adams always gives her all to a role (her magnificent
performance in DOG ACT comes to mind) but she delves so deep into the imposing
professor’s psyche that her anguish is palpable to everyone in the room.
The next reason: Hub offers pay-what-you-can tickets for
every performance. The Hub folks are committed to presenting theater that
matters and is accessible to everyone. And they’ve been doing it successfully
since 2013. WIT won the 1999 Pulitzer and just about every other critical award
for its raw intensity and its stunning universality. (Don’t we all know
someone with cancer?)
Professor Vivian Bearing is an expert on the works of John
Donne, specializing on the Holy Sonnets. Donne scholarship is her life’s work,
examining every nuance in every line of poetry, down to every choice of
punctuation. How ironic that she has made herself into an island: Parents dead,
no children, no friends to rely on now that she is out of her depth.
She still has her acerbic wit and her fierce intelligence but
they’re no match for this foe—and
they don’t impress her doctors, one of whom (Tim Hoover) was her student years
before. It’s not that they’re callous. They see her as a biological being,
whose data may contribute to cancer research. Come to think of it, a lot of
them are callous. Only one of her caretakers isn’t: Lauren Elias as the
professor’s sweet, compassionate nurse gives Bearing (and us) welcome respite
from the protracted suffering.
Robert Bonotto commands the stage as the formidable chief of
surgery, surrounded by quaking, intimidated interns. But as Bearing’s father,
in a brief, immensely touching scene, he shares a tenderhearted moment with his
five year old daughter, teaching her a new word. (And now we understand her
love for language and literature.)
Director John Geoffrion gets stellar work from the entire
ensemble of techs, orderlies, etc., especially Dayenne C.B. Walters as the
teacher who mentored Bearing early on.
Don’t miss this play!
