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A diminutive cousin to the domineering Richard, Wren plays the roles of young women, or ingenues. She is often described as young or childlike. Because she has known Richard all her life, she is particularly worried by the changes to his personality and his increasing tendency to dominate or bully those around him. Despite this connection, she agrees to let him die in the lake, shaken by his attack on her at the party. When the group turns to her for her assent, all the “softness” is drained from her eyes, and she silently nods.
But Wren has hidden strengths as well. She gives a powerful eulogy at Richard’s funeral, noting that her cousin was hard to like but easy to love. She encourages the audience to work through their grief, arguing that it is imperative that the people who remain “must go on,” a phrase that echoes the popular adage that “the show must go on.” Her audition for the spring play is taken from act 4, scene 1 of Richard III, a searing expression of grief, and its power causes her to collapse. She returns to the group, and continues in their communal work, but is never again a full participant. Although Wren is the first to crack under the strain of what they have allowed to happen, she is nonetheless stronger than her appearance suggests.
