The Designated Mourner

The Designated Mourner

<div><p>“The play nicely combines Pinterian menace with caustic political commentary.” –<I>Time</I></p><p>“Acerbic, elusive, poetic and chilling, the writing is demanding in a rarefied manner. Its implications are both affecting and disturbing.” –<I>Los Angeles Times</I></p><p>“In his exquisitely written dramatic lament for the decline of high culture. . . . [Shawn] offers a definition of the self that should rattle the defenses of intellectual snobs everywhere.” –<I>The New York Times</I></p><p>Writer and performer Wallace Shawn’s landmark 1996 play features three characters—a respected poet, his daughter, and her English-professor husband—suspected of subversion in a world where culture has come under the control of the ruling oligarchy. Told through three interwoven monologues, the Orwellian political story is recounted alongside the visceral dissolution of a marriage. The play debuted at the Royal National Theatre in London, in a production directed by David Hare, who also directed the film version, starring Mike Nichols and Miranda Richardson. The play’s subsequent New York premiere was staged in a long-abandoned men’s club in lower Manhattan, directed by Shawn’s longtime collaborator André Gregory.</p><p><B>Wallace Shawn</B> is the author of <I>Our Late Night</I> (OBIE Award for Best Play), <I>Marie and Bruce</I>, <I>Aunt Dan and Lemon</I>, <I>The Fever</I>, and the screenplay for <I>My Dinner with André</I>. His most recent play, <I>Grasses of a Thousand Colors</I>, premiered last year in London.</p></div>