Terminal illness may be a traditional dramatic theme, but its black-comic treatment in ‘Wit’ is as audacious as it is compelling. The play’s protagonist conquers the pain of cancer therapy via the poetry of John Donne, in a powerful literary comedy by Margaret Edson. Derek Anson Jones directs an impressive and ironic performance by Kathleen Chalfant as the cancer-stricken Dr Vivian Bearing. It may be heartbreakingly funny, but it doesn’t compromise in its gripping portrayal of intense pain and human endurance.
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