Characters

Men

  • Giovanni - Arrogant, talented and headstrong, Giovanni is determined to pursue his love for his sister Annabella at any price. A combination of Sonny and Michael Corleone.
  • Don Florio - The father of Giovanni and Annabella. While he claims to want Annabella to marry for love, Florio has clearly already selected Soranzo as his daughter's husband, and the parental concern is largely for show.
  • Don Soranzo ? Wealthy and powerful, Soranzo is Annabella's leading suitor. Outwardly charming, he conceals a violent temperament.
  • Grimaldi - Another mafioso courting Annabella. Capo of a Family in Rome. Vicious and cowardly.
  • Bergetto ? The third of Annabella's suitors, Bergetto is a mostly-amiable fool, both too slow and too fundamentally honest for the company he keeps. Think Fredo Corleone.
  • Vasques - Soranzo's Spanish servant/consigliere, Vasques is scheming, unscrupulous and entirely without remorse. Iago, with more of a penchant for physical violence.
  • Don Donado ? Bergetto's uncle, seeking to secure a match for his nephew with Annabella. A powerful Don who is embarrassed by Bergetto's social inadequacies.
  • Poggio - Bergetto's servant. His jovial nature and clear enjoyment of Bergetto's simplicity conceal a genuine affection for and devotion to his master.
  • Don Richardetto ? Hippolita?s husband. Believed to be dead by the other characters, Richardetto spends most of the play in disguise as he seeks revenge on Soranzo for seducing his wife. Richardetto is mani
  • pulative, but not completely beyond redemption; his love for his niece, Philotis, is genuine.
  • Friar Bonaventura - Giovanni's spiritual counselor, who tries in vain to keep him from pursuing Annabella. He occupies the same structural and emotional niche in ?Tis Pity that Friar Lawrence does in Romeo and Juliet.
  • Cardinal - A high representative of the Catholic Church, the Cardinal is corrupt and self-serving.

Women

  • Annabella ? Loves her brother Giovanni as passionately and hopelessly as he loves her. Annabella is a study in contrasts. She is easily convinced to consummate an incestuous relationship with Giovanni, but she is not completely amoral, fearing damnation and ultimately repenting of the act. There are qualities to admire in her, courage and strength among them.
  • Putana - Annabella's "tutoress", Putana is a coarse, vulgar and morally dubious choice for such a role (her name means "whore" in Italian). She knows about the incest and encourages the relationship, and if Friar Bonaventura occupies the ?Friar Lawrence? niche in the inevitable Romeo and Juliet parallel to be drawn, Putana is a darker shade of the Nurse.
  • Hippolita - Richardetto's unfaithful wife, Hippolita is the beautifully vicious personification of the woman scorned. Soranzo, her lover, has rejected her to pursue Annabella, and for that, she is plotting his murder. Needs to be able to sing.
  • Philotis - Richardetto's niece, Philotis is a genuine innocent used by her uncle to further his schemes for revenge. In the midst of those schemes, Philotis meets and falls in love with Bendetto, and he with her, and needless to say, it doesn?t end well. Needs to play guitar or another, similar instrument.