And that is exactly what director Nick Strudwick gets from Jill Priest in the demanding role of dying cancer victim Vivian Bearing whose story is at the heart of the Margaret Edson play.
Jill, whose performances for the Company of Ten are always excellent, is a brave woman to take on the role of Vivian and it is to her credit that not only does she so memorably capture the tragedy of an intelligent, observant woman dying of ovarian cancer but manages to make her witty and endearing at the same time.
On the face of it Vivian is not a particularly appealing character - an unmarried professor of 17th-century poetry who specialises in the Holy Sonnets of John Donne.
But she uses the analytical skills she has brought to her lifetime's work to come to terms with what is happening to her and she dies with a dignity, despite unwanted efforts to revive her, which leave a lump in the throat.
The role of Vivian is probably the most demanding that Jill has tackled. She is on stage constantly throughout the one hour and 35 minutes it runs and yet there is never any feeling that she is struggling to remember her lines or put them over.
She is, purely and simply, Vivian Bearing whether she is chatting to the audience, sitting next to her father or listening distractedly while the chief of medical oncology tells her what she is suffering from.
The most moving scene of all pairs Jill with Charonne Boulton as E.M. Ashford, the Professor of English Literature who inspired Vivian to study Donne. Professor Ashford is Vivian's only visitor during her time in hospital and as she lays dying, her mentor reads her a children's tale. It is quite simply, brilliant and you could have heard a pin drop in the Abbey Theatre Studio as the scene is played out.
Dan Jackson, Kieran Cummins and Joanne Emery take the other key roles in the play and they all give well-rounded performances. But this is Jill's play and it is her performance which stays in the mind long after the final curtain.
Wit runs until Saturday and is a rare opportunity to see a near-flawless performance by a local drama group.
Tickets are available from the box office on 01727 857861.
MADELEINE BURTON
© Herts Advertiser 2007. Reproduced by permission