As her condition worsens, her conversational commentary is juxtaposed among flashbacks to Bearing's childhood and college days as well as the battery of treatments she endures. Where things might have become maudlin, Livingston's portrayal never lags or wanders into self-indulgent pity. Her character, a no-nonsense academician, would have none of that.
Edson's script is engagingly erudite as she incorporates passages from Donne's various works, the most notably being his Holy Sonnet Number 10 titled "Death Be Not Proud."
Along the way, Bearing offers a nut-shelled course in the importance of grammatical structure, punctuation, lyricism and how this eventually parallels her own condition while suffering the side effects of chemotherapy. Director John Slade and a fairly even supporting cast bring this extended one act to life around Livingston's rock solid work.
Christopher Fielder imbues Dr. Jason Posner, a former student of Bearing's, with a charming balance of embarrassment and intrigue, given his position as her attending oncologist. Fielder's and Livingston's scenes are a prickly dance of humor and respect over this reversal in their positions of authority.
Thomas W. Ashworth and Regina Mocey, respectively appearing as Bearing's primary medical practitioner and her university philosophy professor, offer restrained strength in their near cameo roles.
As registered nurse Susie Monahan, Gina Hugo warmly delivers the sympathy Bearing eventually cries out for and which Dr. Posner cannot give. Conversely, Hugo's hands-on nursing expertise feels uncomfortable and inexperienced, especially considering her title as the floor's head nurse.
Though director Slade keeps things clipping through author Edson's sometimes overly intellectual combination of health and scholarly subject material, some of the medical interactions play out untruthfully. In particular, the show's final scene, involving a mistaken code call by Dr. Posner, is theatrically chaotic as a response team rushes the stage from the rear of the theater, an odd entry point that director Slade overuses throughout the production.
Technically, the uncredited scenic design is antiseptically appropriate although Roger Meyer's splotchy lighting leaves actors walking in and out of inexplicable shadows. Despite these few glitches, a human being acknowledges and embraces her own mortality. It's a universal truth we all must face someday.
