Review: WIT by The Ensemble Company

Sometimes the theatre is the perfect place to explore some of life's toughest questions. Playwrights and actors for thousands of years have been using the stage to help audiences grasp the core tenets of philosophy, religion, and metaphysical concepts. So, it is apt that the most recent production of The Ensemble Company (in residence at Penguin Point Productions) is Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize winning play, WIT (or W;T) - a bold and intimate exploration of one woman's struggle to understand the meaning of her own mortality.

WIT is told through the voice of Dr. Vivian Bearing (Jeanine Henry) a college professor whose area of expertise is the metaphysical poets, in particular, the Holy Sonnets of John Donne. Over the course of the play (approx. 90 minutes - no intermission), Dr. Bearing takes the audience through her grueling eight months of intense chemotherapy treatment (for Stage IV metastatic ovarian cancer) and uses the experience to frame her life's journey. Through numerous flashbacks and asides, Vivian shares her own philosophy on life (and death), and utilizes the wit and poetry of John Donne (in particular, Holy Sonnet X - "Death Be Not Proud") to provide context. A medical team - Dr. Kelekian (Jarman Day), his research fellow Dr. Jason Posner (Ryan Christopherson), and nurse Susie Monahan (Sarah French) care for and observe Dr. Bearing as she suffers the effects of her treatment and the side effects that follow.

Margaret Edson's script for WIT is tight, complex, and extremely smart. Dr. Bearing's inner monologues and her conversations with the audience are beautifully interwoven with quotes and excerpts from John Donne which are used to try and understand and unpack what is happening to her. Experiencing the play as performed by The Ensemble Company, it is clear why WIT received the Pulitzer Prize (1999).

The performances in this production are very strong. This is especially the case for that of Jeanine Henry as Dr. Vivian Bearing. Ms. Henry's grasp of the content and her delivery of the material was a marvel to behold. She slipped easily in and out of her role as narrator, to the stern and learned professor, to her younger selves with ease. She brings the audience along with her as she tries to apply academic rigor to understanding her cancer and her treatment. As Dr. Posner, Ryan Christopherson is believably bewildered both by the presence of Dr. Bearing, but also by the requirements of clinical treatment (he is a researcher at heart). Balancing him out well is Sarah French's warm and caring Nurse Susie. Her scenes with Ms. Henry are the most touching and heart-wrenching of the evening.

Selena Ambush's direction is strong. She uses the smaller, more intimate space at Penguin Point Productions well, setting the play completely in the hospital room (or rooms) of Dr. Bearing's eight-month treatment (designed by Technical Director Gabriel Garcia). This works very well in pulling in the audience and creating a sense of intimacy that the script requires. Darius Fletcher's lighting design is extremely effective in punctuating the key emotions and setting for each scene - especially later in the play when Dr. Bearing is given morphine for pain and the entire stage assumes a green hue. Finally, the sound design by Selena Ambush and Matthew MacDermid (who is also the Producing Artistic Director for The Ensemble Company) is equally effective.

So, if you are looking for an evening of enlightening theatre, then The Ensemble Company's production of WIT is a great choice. It is thought-provoking, well-produced and acted, and is a story that will have you thinking long after the final bows.

WIT presented by The Ensemble Company (in residence at Penguin Point Productions) runs through September 20th. Tickets are $20 for Adults, $18 for Seniors and $16 for Students. Performances take place at Penguin Point Productions inside the Oviedo Mall at 1220 Oviedo Mall Blvd., Oviedo, FL 32765. Tickets can be purchased by visiting https://www.theensemblecompany.com/ or https://www.penguinpointproductions.com/tickets or calling (407) 310-8908.

All Photos by Mike Kitai

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