BRINDSLEY MILLER: A young sculptor (midtwenties), intelligent and attractive, but nervous and uncertain of himself.
CAROL MELKETT: His fancée. A young debutante; very pretty, very spoiled; very silly. Her sound is that unmistakable, terrifying deb quack.
MISS FURNIVAL: A middleaged lady. Prissy and refined. Clad in the blouse and sack skirt of her gentility, her hair in a bun, her voice in a bun, she reveals only the repressed gestures of the middleclass spinster until alcohol undoes her.
COLONEL MELKETT: CAROL's commanding father. Brisk, barky, yet given to sudden vocal calms which suggest a deep and alarming instability. It is not only the constant darkness which gives him his look of wide-eyed suspicion.
HAROLD GORRINGE: The bachelor owner of an antiquechina shop, and BRINDSLEY's neighbour, HAROLD comes from the North of England. His friendship is highly conditional and possessive: sooner or later, payment for it will be asked. A specalist in emotionial blackmail, he can become hysterical when slighted, or (as inevitably happens) rejected. He is older than BRINDSLEY by several years.
SCHUPPANZIGH: A German refugee, chubby, cultivated, and effervescent. He is an entirely happy man, delighted to be in England, even if this means being employed full time by the London Electricity Board.
CLEA: BRINDSLEY's exmistress. Midtwenties; dazzling, emotional, bright and mischievous. The challenge to her to create a dramatic situation out of the darkness is ultimately irresistible.
GEORG BAMBERGER: An elderly millionaire art collector, easily identifiable as such. Like the Electrician, he is a German.
THE TIME
9:30 pm on a Sunday night.
