Comments | deliasherman: Wit

deliasherman

Wit

Feb 03, 2012 15:54

In 1998, when New York was still our secondary relationship, we happened to be in town at the same time as Ellen's parents (I think it was probably Passover). In any case, we took them to see Margaret Edson's Wit at the MCC Theater. We were sitting up by the ceiling, in little, tiny seats, looking almost directly down on the stage. What I ( Read more... )

plays, review

Comments 4

la_marquise_de_ February 3 2012, 21:24:43 UTC

I'm more and more impressed by Nixon as I see her in other things than Sex & the City (which I loathed). She has a real sharp clean edge to her, and a way of getting under the skin of not just the character but the audience. I'd love to see her live.

sovay February 3 2012, 21:33:59 UTC

And Suzanne Bertish (who I remember playing Fanny Squeers in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby w-a-y back in 1982; she was also in Red Dwarf) was FANTASTIC in the small but vitally important role of the professor who taught Dr. Bearing the importance of intellectual rigor.

Yay, Suzanne Bertish!

Finding out I'd seen her-memorably-in Red Dwarf was one of those slightly brain-breaking moments.

t_windling February 4 2012, 08:18:34 UTC

The review of the play in The New Yorker panned Nixon in the role. It's interesting to read another point of view, and it sounds like an amazing play.

vschanoes February 4 2012, 14:44:14 UTC

That's interesting; I saw the original production of Wit and was moved to tears--I didn't see any of the negatives in it. I actually thought it adroitly avoided the "intellectually rigorous women end up bitter old maids" trap with its depiction of Vivian's deep, abiding love for Donne's writing and its meaning to her. And I saw in Vivian's rigidity qualities that I have seen in female professors of her generation, qualities that I have always ascribed to the determination needed to succeed as part of that very first generation of women professors, and the cumulative effects of having been a trailblazer that way, what it takes out of you. I identified with her, and now I see her as a female equivalent to Stoppard's portrayal of the older Housman in Invention of Love--professors who have had to sacrifice almost everything else in their lives in order to pursue their intellectual passions, suppressing vital parts of themselves in the process, but achieving heights of intellectual rigor and satisfaction rarely possible otherwise ( ... )