Wit
Margaret Edson
Wit
“Life, death… It’s a metaphysical conceit.”
American playwright Margaret Edson wrote an empathetic modern drama about confronting serious illness—a deeply human play that, despite its grave subject matter, contains intelligent humor. Wit invites reflection on existence itself, on both the strength and fragility of human life.
We are presenting Wit on the repertoire of our Small Stage as part of a dramaturgical line dedicated to contemporary world drama, works that address major social phenomena of today—issues we often face in our everyday lives. In Edson’s play, the distinguished professor of English literature, Vivian Bearing, undergoes demanding experimental treatment. She finds psychological support in her sharp black humor as well as in the metaphysical poetry of John Donne, the English Renaissance poet to whose work she has devoted her life’s study. Only then does she begin to reflect on how she (should have) truly lived…
Margaret “Maggie” Edson (b. 1961) found inspiration for the play in a hospital where she once worked. Professionally, however, she is a high school teacher in the field of social care. Living in Atlanta with her wife and their two children, she is not otherwise active in literature. It can be said that she is the author of only one play—yet an extraordinary one. Edson began writing Wit in 1991, and it was first staged in 1995. After its acclaimed Off-Broadway production at MCC Theater, she received the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in 1999. The play also inspired director Mike Nichols, who adapted it in 2001 into a film starring Emma Thompson in the lead role, awarded the Emmy for Outstanding Made-for-Television Movie.
Creators
- Překlad:
- Zuzana Ščerbová
- Režie:
- Adam Doležal
- Dramaturgie:
- Zdeněk Janál
- Scéna:
- Michal Syrový
- Kostýmy:
- Agnieszka Pátá Oldak
- Hudba:
- Petr Zeman
- Filmové projekce:
- Lukáš Kellner
- Světelný design:
- Antonín Pfleger
- Inspice:
- Martin Chmelař
- Nápověda:
- David Kubát
Prersons and actors
- Vivian:
- Apolena Veldová
- Kelekian / Pan Bearing:
- Miloslav Krejsa
- Jason:
- Libor Stach
- Susie:
- Klára Kuchinková
- Ashfordová:
- Monika Švábová
- Laboranti, lékaři, studenti, resuscitační tým:
- Matyáš Greif, Marek Mikulášek, Kamila Šmejkalová, Nicole Tisotová
