As Professor Vivian Bearing, PhD, listens to her doctor explain that she has stage four ovarian cancer, she turns to the audience and humorously analyses the language being used. This is her armor, her protection against a world in which she only feels comfortable when she’s intellectually superior. In fact, Dr. Bearing admits that she always felt being smart would protect her.

It doesn’t. Throughout the next hour and forty minutes, we experience with her the indignity of innumerable tests and treatments, the humiliation of being treated like an experimental white rat, and finally, her fear and pain. This is a role for a great actress, and Cynthia Nixon ably fills the bill.

At first, Vivian is not particularly likeable. She’s funny, yes, but in a series of flashbacks, she’s also pompous, and cold to her students. When asked for an extension on a paper that’s due, she dismisses the excuse of a death in the family, and insists on keeping the original deadline.

It’s only when we see her father, remote and unaffectionate, that we begin to understand the teacher’s defensive veneer, just as we see her realize the power of words.

The title of the play refers to both Vivian’s wit, and her emphasis on the cleverness of author John Donne, who is at the center of her teaching field, 17th Century Metaphysical Poetry. Wit won the Pulitzer Prize in 1999, not only for the excellent writing, but also for author Margaret Edson’s knowledge of both the academic world, and her insight into the universe of cancer doctors and hospitals. In addition, those familiar with Donne’s life and writing will appreciate noting the life journeys of both Vivian and her favorite poet. Donne was born a Catholic, became an Anglican priest, wrote extensively about faith and disillusionment, and was thought to have died of stomach cancer. Vivian’s religion is the intellect, and her status as a teacher. As her treatment becomes increasingly brutal, she realizes that she is no more immune to terror and longing for human contact than the most ordinary mortal.

Director Lynn Meadow has wisely chosen to keep scenery and blocking to a minimum. The pace of the show is never rushed, but never drags.

Michael Countryman, in the dual role of Vivian’s doctor, Harvey Kelekian, and her father, Mr. Bearing, brings both gravitas and a necessary coolness bordering on insensitivity to his portrayals.

As Susie Monahan, Vivian’s nurse, Carra Patterson is at times hard to hear; it would be beneficial for her to display more warmth, which would provide a welcome contrast to the rest of the characters.

I’d also appreciate seeing a change in Susie’s relationship with Dr. Jason Posner (Greg Keller) as their scenes together progress through the play. Jason only really comes alive when discussing with Vivian his fascination with cancer; he is first and foremost a researcher, who’d prefer not to have to deal with people at all. Susie is a nurse who is principally a caregiver and nurturer to her patients. It would be far more interesting to see some heat between the two in the beginning, and watch that initial attraction change as their life choices become more at odds.

In the same vein, my least favorite scene comes near the end of the show, when both Susie and Jason work together over Vivian’s motionless body. It feels needlessly detached and strangely out of sync with the rest of the play.

There’s been a great amount of discussion as to whether or not the scene during which a mortally ill Vivian is visited by her mentor is real or hallucinatory. In flashback, we have seen that Dr. Ashford (Suzanne Bertish) has not only lectured Vivian on the importance of the correct punctuation for Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud,” but in addition, has taken a real interest in her promise as an intellectual. She’s also advised her to get out of the library and have fun, an admonition Vivian promptly ignores.

Out of the blue, a much older Dr. Ashford appears at Vivian’s bedside, claiming to be in town visiting her grandson. She reads aloud a children’s book about a rabbit, harkening back to the earlier scene where Vivian has read about bunnies to her largely disinterested father. She then pronounces her former student will soon be at peace.

Isn’t it a bit too convenient for the one person who has displayed real interest in Vivian to show up at that moment? On the other hand, if Vivian is only imagining the visit, why is Dr. Ashford shown as a Senior Citizen, rather than as the younger, more vibrant woman we’ve seen in the flashback? On this question, I am coming down squarely on the side of I just don’t know.

While it’s often considered extraneous and even odious for a critic to inject a personal note, I feel I must give the reader a heads up. This is a very difficult presentation to get through if you’ve had any experience with cancer and cancer treatment. And let’s face it, we live in an age when nearly everyone has been touched in some way by this nightmare of a disease. For me, seeing Cynthia Nixon’s slender frame in a shapeless back-tied hospital gown, her bald head perpetually covered by a bright red cap, I was too sharply reminded of my beloved sister-in-law, who fought her own battle last year, and spent a full seven months of 2011 enduring physically debilitating treatments for her cancer. A year from hell, more akin to the “hot cups” of “The Madness of King George ” than what would be hoped for in modern medical treatment.

As I looked around me in the theater, I saw many others silently crying during the curtain call.

A short while ago, bedazzled by the luminous Rosemary Harris, I pronounced this year’s Tony award nominations for best actress should be brought to a halt. Watching Cynthia Nixon bring so vividly to life a woman so close to death, I realized I was wrong.

The last glorious moment of Nixon’s performance confirmed that, without a doubt, the race is definitely on.

Photos by Joan Marcus

Michall Jeffers is an accomplished Cultural Journalist. She writes extensively, both in print and online. Her eponymous cable TV show is syndicated throughout the tri-state area, and features celebrity interviews, reviews, and commentary. She is a voting member of Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, American Theatre Critics Association, and International Association of Theatre Critics.