Wit Summary
Margaret Edson

Although she insists that her true vocation is teaching kindergarten, Margaret Edson has distinguished herself as a dramatist on the basis of her debut play. Wit, which premiered in Costa Mesa, Calif... Read more

In the following review of the Los Angeles production of Wit, Winer states that the play is “a little short of reaching its full potential.” [In Edson's Wit,] Vivian Bearing, P... Read more

In the following excerpt, Torrens asserts that Edson has placed John Donne's work within a proper context in her play. And Now for the sleeper of the year, the Pulitzer Prize winner, Wit (th... Read more

In the following review, Phillips, a medical doctor, judges Wit as “brilliant” despite its critical indictment of both the academic and medical professions. The play Wit is an engagin... Read more

In the following essay, Eads examines the nature of redemption and assesses the power of language as both bridge and blockade in Wit. Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize, Margaret Edson's medi... Read more

In the following essay, Vanhoutte notes that Edson uses cancer as a tool to judge how Vivian has lived her life—a stereotype to which Vanhoutte objects, arguing that such methodology maintains ... Read more

In the following essay, DeShazer analyzes four plays containing women's cancer as the primary thematic element, contending that performance theater allows for a different examination of feminis... Read more

In the following review of Wit, Kanfer commends the power and intent of Edson's writing, but believes her inexperience as a playwright causes her to render the details of the play overly ȁ... Read more

In the following essay, Lamont discusses the use of Donne's sonnets, particularly “Death Be Not Proud,” to inform the treatment of death in Wit. In the concluding scene of Marg... Read more

In the following review, Bregman, a medical doctor, lauds Edson for her portrayal of the intellectual frigidity often associated with academia as a result of the scholar's own failings and not ... Read more

In the following review, Wheeler praises the emotional impact of Wit, but believes that the play's conclusions inaccurately reflect Donne's religious intent due to the work's focu... Read more