by Jane Belden

In an essay on John Donne, T.S. Eliot writes "With sincerity in a practical sense, poetry has little to do; the poet is responsible to a much more difficult consciousness and honesty. And it is because of this honesty, because he is so often expressing his genuine whole of tangled feelings, that Donne is, like the early Italians, like Heine, like Baudelaire, a poet of the world's literature."

In "W;t" we find Vivian Bearing, PH.D, a professor and scholar of John Donne's Holy Sonnets, experiencing the effects of an unholy but honest forecast... She is diagnosed with terminal cancer and is expected to willingly engage in research using an experimental drug in it fullest potency to see if she can survive it to the end. Being a cultured and educated individual wanting to help humanity she agrees and proceeds to take us (the audience) through each agonizing and tender moment. Maryjane Polton stays in character throughout the whole play even as she slips in and out of flashback remembrances that give us a glimpse of Vivian's life before the diagnosis. The childhood scene especially stands out to me. Vivian's love for the metaphysical poetry of Donne gives her strength and wit. You almost feel embarrassed to laugh at certain lines but you can't help it. Sometimes you laugh out of embarrassment, because it strikes so close to home. The remembrances help the audience piece together the whole picture of what she was like before and after the diagnosis. Marylyn Cook as the nurse was wonderful and the tender moments in the play were usually when she was in the scene.
There are three stages of dehumanization in the play as Vivian was processed throughout. These points are signified by the closing of two window shades and a door. The light changes take you easily from one sequence to another. Great Lighting by Angela Green. Outstanding directing by Bob Nelson. This play, with all its characters and staff was fabulous. Maryjane Polton, perfectly cast as Vivian took me to an emotional level that I haven't visited in a long time.

Vivian tells us in the beginning that this play ends in death. It seemed I saw it go from death to life. It definitely had a metaphysical tone.

Reprinted courtesy of the Trinity Journal. "W;t" is a Pulitzer-prize winning play written by Margaret Edson, and was produced by Stagecraft, a local theatrical production company.

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