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Filippa Kosta
Wren’s typecast is the ingenue. A female parallel to James, she often plays his lover in the plays the class performs. She’s sweet and innocent both on and offstage, and of all the fourth-years, she’s the last one who Richard finally snaps at and abuses. She, like her cousin Richard, is descended from West End actors and directors. After Richard’s death, Wren begins to break down from grief and exhaustion. She delivers a eulogy at his funeral but dissolves into tears afterward, and she later collapses while delivering a recitation in the spring semester. She and James are comfortable together, and he appears protective of her. When he propositions her at the King Lear cast party, she agrees, and they go upstairs together. At the end of the book, Oliver believes Wren to be working as a dramaturg in London, hiding from the world.
Wren Stirling Quotes in If We Were Villains
The If We Were Villains quotes below are all either spoken by Wren Stirling or refer to Wren Stirling. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 4, Scene 10 Quotes
I knew by then the way the story went. Our little drama was rapidly hurtling toward its climactic crisis. What next, when we reached the precipice? First, the reckoning. Then, the fall.
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Wren Stirling Character Timeline in If We Were Villains
The timeline below shows where the character Wren Stirling appears in If We Were Villains. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1, Scene 1
...According to him, Richard will be Caesar, James will be Brutus, Alexander will be Cassius, Wren will be Portia, Meredith will be Calpurnia, and Filippa will play a male part. When...
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Act 1, Scene 2
...person. Richard is a powerful tyrant; Meredith is a sensual femme fatale (who’s dating Richard); Wren is an innocent ingenue (who’s Richard’s cousin); and Alexander is a sly villain. Filippa and...
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Act 1, Scene 3
...wait at humorously-named local bar “the Bore’s Head” for the cast list to go up. Wren, who’d been stationed at the FAB to be there when it appeared, enters the bar...
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Act 1, Scene 4
...Meredith’s family is wealthy and distant. Filippa doesn’t share anything about her family. Richard and Wren’s parents, successful actors and directors in London, are the only parents of the bunch who...
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Act 1, Scene 11
...weaknesses in Gwendolyn’s class one by one: Alexander is convincingly scary but maybe too villainous, Wren is emotionally intelligent but too sensitive, Richard is confident but too egotistical, Filippa is versatile...
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Act 1, Scene 12
...play Banquo. From the tree line, James and Oliver see the first scene begin: Meredith, Wren, and Filippa emerge from the water as the three witches. James and Oliver enter at...
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...him in the distance as Meredith tugs him away. Meredith leads Oliver to James and Wren, just as James is giving her his coat. When Meredith leaves to get drinks, Oliver...
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...Meredith, unlike the other men in their class—so she turns to Oliver, who reluctantly agrees. Wren promises to fight the winners with James as her partner. Although Oliver is drunk, he...
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...James tries to urge Richard to calm down, but Richard snaps at him for touching Wren. Appearing drunk, he wades into the water.
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Oliver supports James as he coughs up water. Meredith and Wren scream at Richard for almost killing James. Oliver and Colin help James to the beach,...
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Act 2, Scene 1
...of the two couples in the play, acted by Richard and Meredith and James and Wren. Alexander and Oliver stand to the side and watch. Alexander points out how stiff Meredith...
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Act 2, Scene 3
...James by calling Meredith a “drama queen.” Filippa scolds him thoroughly and leaves, followed by Wren and Alexander. James smiles at Richard in “a glimmer of petty triumph” and leaves, too....
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Act 2, Scene 5
...him in freshman year and then got together with Richard when he refused. Thinking of Wren, Oliver asks him if he should know anything else, but James doesn’t offer any other...
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Act 2, Scene 8
...Meredith talking to a cellist in the garden, and she smiles when she sees him. Wren tells Oliver that she’s worried about Richard, whom she says is usually rude and reckless...
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After Wren leaves, James finds Oliver in the garden. They look at the stars for a moment—but...
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Act 3, Scene 1
Richard has been violent with all of them—even Wren, whom he threw across the yard in a violent fit just before he stormed out...
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Act 3, Scene 6
Wren stands and takes the microphone to give a eulogy. She tells the crowd that while...
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Act 3, Scene 7
...the Bore’s Head. They talk little, telling each other their holiday plans in short sentences. Wren has already left with her family, and Meredith asks the group if they think she’ll...
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Act 3, Scene 11
...on campus on December first. Meredith is on her way, but they haven’t heard from Wren. Oliver meets with Dean Holinshed, who’s found a way for Oliver to stay by taking...
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...than talking in her room that night. He deduces that Richard might’ve gotten violent with Wren based on James’s story. Colborne tells Walton that the hours between three and six are...
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Act 3, Scene 12
...a speech of Philip the Bastard from King John. As they’re studying in the library, Wren arrives. James jumps up to greet her, and they all give her a group hug....
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Act 3, Scene 15
On Wednesday, Oliver and Wren are scheduled to perform their midterm speeches for Gwendolyn and Frederick. Oliver goes first, and...
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Act 3, Scene 16
...to the Castle and sees James and Filippa in the library. He tells them that Wren collapsed and he carried her to the infirmary. James appears frantic and rushes out to...
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Act 3, Scene 18
...to the stairs under the balcony. From a distance, he sees James spot his Juliet: Wren. He approaches her, takes her hand, and speaks Romeo’s flirtatious lines as he kisses her...
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Act 4, Scene 1
...When they get back to Dellecher, Oliver realizes that he’s still jealous of James and Wren, and he seeks solace in Meredith.
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Act 4, Scene 2
...few minutes and asks Oliver what he thinks the casting will be. He predicts that Wren will be Cordelia, Filippa and Meredith will be Regan and Goneril, Oliver himself will be...
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...later, however, Meredith arrives with the cast list. Frederick is King Lear, Camilo is Albany, Wren is Cordelia, Filippa is Regan, Meredith is Goneril, James is Edmund, Oliver is Edgar, Alexander...
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Act 4, Scene 8
...practicing for their midterm exams. They’ve been grouped into pairs for recitations: James and Filippa, Wren and Meredith, and Oliver and Alexander. Oliver is waiting for Alexander to arrive so that...
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Act 4, Scene 9
...of class for a psychiatric evaluation. The psychiatrist finds signs of post-traumatic stress disorder in Wren and James, so Wren takes another day off from class. James wants to attend, so...
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Act 5, Scene 2
...candles out and follows him downstairs. Encountering Filippa, Oliver asks her to keep Alexander and Wren sober. He asks the crowd where James is, and someone points him toward the bathroom....
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...with Oliver chasing after him. He turns around, sees Oliver behind him, and then grabs Wren and asks her to go to bed with him. She is taken aback but agrees....
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Act 5, Scene 3
...him to clean. He smooths out James’s bedspread, trying not to think about him and Wren, but then notices bits of cotton coming away in his hand. Investigating, he finds a...
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Act 5, Scene 5
...Oliver asks James to tell him what happened. James tells him that after Richard threw Wren across the yard on the night of the Julius Caesar cast party, Wren tearfully asked...
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...the whole time. James urged Richard to come back with him and make amends with Wren and Meredith, but Richard refused and started to push and taunt James. When James tried...
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Epilogue
...they had during the 1997 Christmas break. Alexander calls him, and Meredith tells him that Wren is working as a dramaturg in London. They don’t discuss James ever again. Filippa calls...
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