Equity Actors for Production of "The Fanatics"

“Short and rather round, a little red and a little bald.” Runs a small but prosperous business, which he has built and intends to pass on to his son. A product of the late Victorian era, and as the Father feels wholly entitled to all of the privileges that pertain to the role of the head of the household. Believes firmly in an older and established set of values, from before the Great War. Anxious and indignant when anyone deviates from his idea of “what should be done.”

Concerned for her children’s future, especially their happiness in love. More savvy than her husband, miles ahead of her husband from page one, and trying to avert a collision between her husband and her son.

Daughter of the Freeman family. Curious, and thoughtful. Attractive and intelligent. Has an artist’s careful eye for human behavior. Has been in love once when very young, but he was killed in the war. Starts the play in the role of “the obedient daughter,” opening the liquor cabinet and bringing a drink to her father. Undergoes this huge awakening over the course of the play, steps into control of her own life.

Son of the Freeman family. Returned from the Great War, and has taken a position in his father’s firm, and is engaged to Frankie, the daughter of his father’s business partner. He lives in a private flat that’s at the top of his family's row-house. Outside: Well-built, handsome, pleasant, eligible. Inside: An artist (writer and musician), haunted by the experience of death in the trenches of the Great War, and confronting the challenge and opportunity of surviving it.

Engaged to be married to John. But more interested in finalizing her choices for the draperies than anything else. The two families are intertwined professionally and personally and looking forward to the match. She’s such a frequent visitor here that she’s almost like another daughter in the Freeman house. She’s very good at tennis and field hockey. Conventional. Educated. Sensible. Prosperous. Cares what other people think. Her mother was very strict.

(20) – Parlour-maid of the Freeman family. Loyal to John, over and above her loyalty to her employer, Mr. Freeman. Though at first she appears to recede into the wallpaper, as the play goes on, she emerges with her own story. She’s also influenced by his radical political awakening, especially as it relates to sex and gender. She ends up becoming pregnant and comes to Gwen (and then also John) to decide what to do. London working class dialect.

Close friend and confidant of John Freeman. Dashing. Funny. Charming. Successful playwright, whose boulevard comedy (“A Pair of Pajamas”) is currently a hit! An idealist who’s now affecting a certain show business worldliness. His writing has earned him a beautiful flat and a lovely country house. John’s earnest political awakening is also a kind of challenge to Colin’s closet idealist. He has a good heart. Was married when he was very young and then divorced.

Actress who is in the chorus of a West End musical comedy, & John’s lover. “Through a curious quality in her, she attracts & is attracted by artists; her life has been mostly in studios and cafes, and from her surroundings, and from the artists that have been in her life, she has acquired her sense and taste.” She’s had other lovers, “middle-aged businessmen with money, or youn men with well-brushed hair and incomes.” Smart. As an actor, she knows her physical appearance is part of her power.

Known socially to Gwen & John. Literary agent to Colin. Runs her own literary agency and is a boss and mentor to a staff of younger women. Unmarried, and has experience with men. Elegant. Worldly. Funny. Has a kind of confidence to be herself, and that allows her to be remarkably candid in talking about sex with two younger women. Having navigated society’s expectations for a woman both professionally and in her personal life, she’s arrived at a point in her life where she’s ready to be HONEST.