SWAGGER CAST OF CHARACTERS
WILL SHAKESPEARE, male, 36 years old, the greatest playwright of his time, the smartest man in the room, brash, curious, self-assured, and not always as self-aware as he thinks he is.
ALAZAR YA’AQOB, male, 42 years old, the Black Ambassador from Ethiopia. A Christian nobleman possessing a confident dignity, he is also cautious, conflicted, a consummate diplomat with deep reserves of feeling.
QUINN, a queer, bookish fourteen-year-old fanboy of William Shakespeare. He lives in the present day.
RICHARD BURBAGE, male, 32 years old, the greatest actor of his time (and he makes sure everyone knows it) and Will Shakespeare’s boisterous best friend.
QUEEN ELIZABETH I, female, 67 years old, the most powerful ruler of her time, shrewdly political and able to incisively “read” each person she meets.
ROBERT CECIL, male, 37 years old, secretary of state to Queen Elizabeth I, ruthlessly ambitious, physically disabled but refuses to be defined by it; he wields considerable power at Court.
QUINN’S MOM, a devoted, slightly harried single mother in her late thirties who is a consultant who helps troubled businesses. She lives in the present day.
LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN #1, the actor who played secondary roles.
LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN #2, the actor who was a tragedian.
LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN #3, the actor who played comic roles.
LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN #4, the actor who played women’s roles in his youth.
PRINCIPAL (played by ROBERT CECIL), a man who likes to think of himself as sympathetic to his students but is aggrieved that the world is changing too fast. He lives in the present day.
QUINN’S DAD (played by LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN #2), a conflicted man in his mid-forties. He lives in the present day.
GUARD (played by LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN #3)
SPY #1 (CRANTZ) (played by LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN #1)
SPY #2 (STERN) (played by LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN #3)
LADY-IN-WAITING (played by RICHARD BURBAGE)
LADY-IN-WAITING (played by LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN #1)
LADY-IN-WAITING (played by LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN #3)
