Handling death with Wit
Image: Cheryl Ward in WIT. Photo: Alison Lee Rubie
Death may be a hard sell for a theatrical production but that is just what Clock and Spiel Productions hope to do with their new drama Wit at Glen Street and Riverside theatres.
The Pulitzer winning play for drama is the singular work of American playwright Margaret Edson and is partly based on her work experience in a hospital.
“What Margaret Edson has done with Wit is to bring us face to face with something that we often find difficult with a huge amount of humour and pathos, openness and vulnerability,” Yannick Lawry, actor, producer Clock and Spiel said.
“Clock and Spiel is the theatre company that I run with Hailey MCQueen and we are both in this play.”
In Wit Vivian Bearing is in the prime of her life as an academic who also has a love for language, and in particular, the sonnets of John Donne.
“The experience is one where we think and feel those things through the eyes of the protagonist and it is brilliantly played by the actor Cheryl Ward,” Lawry said.
Diagnosed with ovarian cancer she places herself in the care of oncologists as she comes to terms with her impending death, with the big question being: Can we conquer death, or our fear of it, by the way that we live our lives?
“We found this piece six years ago and thought that it really aligned with our theatre company’s vision, and that is to produce distinctive works which are culturally daring and human, both in the process and the product,” Lawry said.
“We found that Glen Street and Riverside theatres, who we have worked with previously, were keen tor us to bring this play to their audiences.”
Wit is being directed by Helen Tonkin, a veteran of the Sydney theatre scene. Tonkin is also playing the role of EM Ashford, an 80-year-old professor emeritus of English literature and Vivian’s former college professor.
“Helen is an established actor and director and is also the artistic director at the New Theatre, and she is a cancer survivor, so she brings a lot of authenticity to the direction of the piece,” Lawry said.
“She has brought out all the subtlety and nuance and has worked with our sound designer Adam Jones to create some of those haunting medical sounds that you would hear going for treatment.”
Wit is included in the HSC for Advanced English, so students and parents can get to see the play performed.
“There will be student only sessions at Glen Street and Riverside,” Lawry said.
Lawry also thinks that Sydneysiders sometimes lack adventure in going to see shows outside of the CBD.
“I think Sydney is a city that is wonderfully diverse, but I find in terms of bringing people together for cultural events, they don’t travel for shows unless they’re major shows, and whether that is because of the transport system or some sort of suburban tribalism, I don’t know,” Lawry said.
Wit also sees Kyra Belford-Thomas as Dr Jessica Posner, Sayur Narroway as lab technician/ clinical fellow/student, and Joseph Tanto as lab technician, clinical fellow/student.
