A review by diannastarr
Wit, by Margaret Edson

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Where do I even begin with this play? It is poignant and brief, just like life, and it left me with a knot in the back of my throat and my heart sinking through the floor with every line.  It is a hard read, a play that dives into the psyche of a professor who teaches on the woes of mankind's morality and her grappling with her own diagnosis with terminal cancer.  It is a hard read and one that forces you, the reader, to reckon with your own morality and the loneliness and inevitability of death itself.  It focuses on the personas we adopt and the ways in which we try to intellectualize the circumstances that we are forced to endure when, at the end of the day, life is cruel but it is us, the people, who give it meaning.  The parallels between the professor's analysis of poetry with the doctor's analysis of her as a patient is stark, and the final scenes had my hand over my mouth, absolutely stunned.  I am not a very theatrical person, but if I could give Margaret Edison's play 6 stars, I would.  Wit is short, it is striking, but it is truly unforgettable.