MVT production examines cancer victim's agony

By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic

•	'Wit' 4 p.m. Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, through June 2 Manoa Valley Theatre $15 732-1147

Can the early 17th-century poetry of John Donne provide a clue or did his complicated genius merely engage in complex word games to hide from God's inevitability?

Does taking the hard path lead to truth or merely exercise one's wit?

Manoa Valley Theatre takes an uncompromising approach to the difficult process of dying with its production of Margaret Edson's Pulitzer prize-winning play, "Wit." Like several of MVT's recent productions, "Wit" received its first exposure in Hawai'i as a staged reading by the Army Community Theatre. Directed by Roger Long, MVT brings it to the stage fully realized, without compromise, and demanding of our full attention.

"Wit" follows the last eight months in the life of Vivian Bearing. A professor of English literature, the central character is proud and unflinching in her approach to scholarship. Faced with final-stage ovarian cancer, she unhesitatingly opts for the most radical treatment, offering herself as a subject for research and subjecting herself to scathing and depersonalizing side effects.

In this essentially one-character drama, Betty Burdick delivers an intelligent and articulate portrayal of a private woman who fiercely maintains her integrity throughout a dehumanizing process.

The early stages are met with comic irony as she endures a gynecology exam by a nervous former student. As the pain mounts, she succumbs to a vocabulary that is regrettably Anglo-Saxon. Near the end and longing for human warmth to allay her fear, she pronounces her need to be embarrassingly "corny."

But throughout the performance, Burdick also shows us the woman behind the disciplined exterior, searching for meaning and preparing for her inevitable encounter with death. Her hard edges are matched by David Schaeffer as her attending physician, but balanced by others in the supporting cast.

Brent Yoshikami is excellent as the young resident with undeveloped people skills. There's real substance in his struggle to approximate a bedside manner and genuine passion behind his fixation with pure research.

Lei Spadaccini adds warmth as a nurse who offers Vivian companionship. And Sharon Adair as Vivian's former mentor makes a short scene especially moving as she climbs into the hospital bed to bring comfort through a children's story.

While there can be no surprise happy ending to this unflinching story line, the play closes with an uplifting pantomime as Vivian is at last released from her earthly struggle.

The production is staged in an antiseptic white cube designed by Joseph Dodd that adds a bit of echo to the dialogue. Its single act plays an hour and 15 minutes without intermission.

"Wit" engages us soberly, but its distinctive point of view never becomes maudlin.