Margaret Edson

Very moving story about the ups and downs of cancer through the eyes of the patient, in fast forward, as the play is only around 80 pages. Compelling.

Vivian Bearing, an English literature professor specialising in John Donne, undergoes horrific chemo before dying of her stage 4 ovarian cancer in this harrowing play.

I was actually fortunate enough to read it, and then see it performed during the same semester back in graduate school. In my journal back then, I did write that I thought the play as I read it was better than the performance itself (however, I should note we had gone to see a "preview" performance). But it was still a good experience. There are a lot of ironies in the play, and it is a very moving piece. Again, my journal notes are mostly academic, so I will leave them out.