The designated mourner

the long version

Woven out of three monologues in what one reviewer called "a triple sonata of oppression and incomprehension" (The Sunday Times), Wallace Shawn's new play, The Designated Mourner, is a masterful drama about the pursuit of aesthetic subtleties in brutal times. The three characters include the eponymous designated mourner, Jack; his wife, Judy; and his erudite father-in-law, Howard. Although Judy is tied to her famous father by a passionate bond, she is nonetheless drawn toward Jack, whose taste in cultural forms follows a disturbing path. When Jack abandons both Judy and Howard, he continues his riveting societal free-fall into a world of gleeful savagery.