Francis.

Zanni.

Francis is a typical Zanni. He is stupid and slow, easily confused and mislead by those around him. Despite this the audience grow to love him, his innocent naivety and funny comments make him a very likeable character.

Acting notes.

1. Small steps, always in a hurry, very agitated and excitable but also in bad shape so this excitement makes him tired and constantly out of breath.
2. Once Francis thinks of somehting he becomes totally hooked and only thinks about that, conveyed through over-the-top facial expressions.
3. High-pitched, fast-paced when agitated but slower deeper voice when thinking (which takes him a while.)

Lazzi's.

Francis works himself up into a frenzy over the stress of juggling Roscoe and Stanley. He starts physically beating himself up, two halves of his personality fighting each other and eventually knocks himself out with a bin lid.

Whilst bringing back letters from the post office for both Roscoe and Stanley, Francis gets them muddled up in pockets and ends up eating one of the letters addressed to Stanley which causes much confusion later on.

Allen and Pauline.

The Lovers.

Allen is an aspiring actor (just like Flavio is an amateur poet) and Pauline is a slightly dim looks obsessed lady (just like Isabella). The two are madly in love and spend almost all the time they are on stage together locked in a fierce embrace. Both are so head-over-heels in love they will do anything to protect their lover, in Allen's case this involves threatening the criminal underlord Roscoe.

Acting notes.

1. Allen becomes very protective of Pauline and threatens 'Roscoe' when he first enters, he makes himself tall, puffs out his chest and strides with long firm steps to greet him. This effect is ruined when 'Roscoe' completely ignores him.
2. Allen is always over the top and uses grand gestures coupled with complex vocabulary (most of which Pauline doesn't understand) to constantly declare his undying love for her.
3. Pauline is forever dancing around on tip toes, looking around her in wonder with arms held delicately to the side and neck raised.
4. When together, the two very rarely take their eyes off each other and stand close.

Lazzi's.

After passionately kissing in centre stage (which is incredibly awkward for the other characters), Pauline asks Charlie if her and Allen can "go upstairs to listen to a record". Both Charlie and the audience clearly see through this thinly veiled sexual innuendo and he in all his Pantalone glory refuses.

Charlie 'The Duck.'

Pantalone.

Charlie is a rich and influential 'businessman' whose exploits are in a grey area of the law. He is stingy with his money and resents having to pay the 6,000 pounds to 'Roscoe'. Just like Pantalone, he also hates the idea of his daughter marrying anyone - especially someone like Allen whom he deems unsuitable. 

Acting notes.

1. Charlie speaks in a very dry, flat, boring, unemotional voice. He rarely raises his voice or changes pace which presents him as very serious.
2. Physically, he is constantly hunched over, he has terrible posture with curved shoulders and neck thrust froward.
3. He is slow moving and old but despite his frail appearance he is quick to realise how he can profit from a situation and inevitably he acts in his own interests.

Lazzi's.

At the end of the play, he gives Dolly two weeks paid leave and it seems to physically hurt him. He clutches at his heart, turns away in pain and mutters "Go on then", to the delight of the assembled characters.

Harry.

Ill Dottore.

Harry is Charlie's criminal lawyer and he is a typical Il Dottore. He is very fat and is constantly slight drunk - he carries with him a glass of champagne everywhere he goes. He also strives to appear intelligent to those around him by going on long rambling speeches about nothing in particular but in reality he knows very little about anything and is actually a terrible lawyer.

1. Acting Notes.
2. Slurs his words and speaks in a slow, plummy voice. When he talks he sways back and forth and holds his chin close in to his neck.
3. He moves around the stage very slowly and never turns his neck, his whole body shifts on a central pivot like a tank rather than crane his neck.
4. Carrying his trusty glass of champagne he makes regular toasts to nothing in particular but never seems to drink.
5. He repeatedly tries to shake everyones hands, sometimes doing this 3 or 4 times during a conversation. Some characters like Francis shake it every time but others like Charlie soon get bored.

Lazzi's.

Whilst discussing the biology of identical twins, Harry attempts to appear more knowledgable than he is by waffling about greek and latin derivations of the word 'identical'. Rachael laughs at this and quickly tells everyone of the differences between mon-zygotic and duo-zygotic twins much to the embarrassment of Harry.

Dolly. 

Columbina.

Dolly is the bookkeeper for Charlie, but she also acts as a kind of secretary and butler for him. She is a classic Columbina character - desired by men around her but cool in her rejection of them (that is until she meets Francis who wins her over). She is also clever, honest and hard-working - everything Charlie is not! This is symbolic of the typical relationship between Pantalone and Columbina in Comedia plays.

Acting Notes.

1. Very feminine, high-pitched voice especially around Francis who she secretly adores.
2. Quick witted when dealing with Charlie and Harry, fast-paced sarcastic voice that quickly puts them down.
3. As a maid she often stands off to the side, away from the other characters and rarely interjects without being spoken to despite being one of the more intelligent characters.
4. Small dainty movements of hands and feet to move around, good posture, shoulders rolled back, wrists bent as pictured.

Lazzi's.

Francis exists the room in search of the pub whilst she enters returning from a phone call. We hear a shriek from the corridor and she comes in smiling widely and bending away from Francis. The clear sexual connotations of this show both Francis' cheek and how much Dolly likes him.

Stanley.

Il Capitano.

Stanley is Rachael's lover and Francis' second guvnor. He is incredibly posh and well-spoken and also displays many Il Capitano characteristics. These include his air of superiority to those around him but reluctance to ever do any actual work and his naivety to certain aspects of life such as his inability to lie.

When he and Rachael are about to kill themselves at the pier he displays many Il Capitano qualities and debates for a long time whether he should die for this - he values (overvalues??) his life greatly.

Acting.

Speaks in a very posh way, received pronunciation and long drawling words with drawn-out vowels.

Stands upright and proud, very tall with good posture and head held high, moves in a relaxed manner though.

Always smiling or laughing in a jovial manner, Stanley often stands centre stage whilst the other characters move around him.

Lazzi's. 

Showing how hilariously stupid both characters are, Stanley manages to convince Francis his name is "Dustdin Pub-Sign", to disguise his real identity. To cover this he then goes on a long exaggerated talk about how the accent family line of Pub-sign would make all the pub signs in medieval times.