PIPPIN
Pippin is the ‘educated’ first-born son of Charlemagne, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Pippin makes a journey throughout the show. He starts off feeling unfulfilled, like he is just existing and hasn’t yet found himself. He searches for his ‘corner of the sky’, trying lots of different things. His father is a successful ruler and he feels he has to be equally successful and has very high expectations of himself. He feels that he should be ‘extraordinary’. Every time Pippin tries something new, he puts everything he has into it. This leaves him emotionally exhausted and he feels so useless and unhopeful that he ends up lying in the road ‘like a discarded rag’. He learns from his mistakes and finds in the end that you have to compromise because it’s impossible to find a totally perfect state of being. He settles for less. Pippin swings from being totally full of hope for himself to being totally down and depressed. However, he is not suicidal, which he proves when he rejects the leading player’s idea of suicide in the fire box. Pippin is in quite a vulnerable position, which is why he is so easily led by the leading player (except for in the finale).

THE LEADING PLAYER
The leading player has his/her own agenda. The leading player is primarily concerned with putting on an impressively theatrical performance. She leads and encourages Pippin in his pursuits but always means for Pippin to do things her way – the grand finale. She is always striving for the most dramatic performance and wants Pippin to commit suicide in a box of fire ‘like the sun at its zenith’. When Pippin decides to go his own way and not die, she becomes very child-like and feels dejected. She takes away all the props, scenery, lighting, make up etc. The leading player feels most comfortable when she is in control of the situation and the loss of control at the end of the show shows how vulnerable she actually is, underneath her persona.

CHARLEMAGNE
Charlemagne is a very successful emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, however he rules it unfairly. His relationship with Pippin is uneasy. He tries to be fatherly telling Pippin ‘home is where the heart is’ but feels stupid – ‘why did I say that?’. Charlemagne tries to be a good father, he takes time to see his children and takes time to explain things like war. Charles swings from being intellectual and calculating, to being stuck in tradition. His ideas of ruling are clever and things don't phase him - 'every son goes against his father at some time or other', 'war is a science'. He is infatuated with his wife, Fastrada and would do anything for her, but unlike Fastrada, he can see Lewis's failings (he is stupid).

FASTRADA
Fastrada is Pippin’s stepmother. She has an incestuous but loving relationship with her son Lewis. Fastrada’s main aim in life is to see Lewis gain the throne. She is a crafty person. When she overhears Pippin’s plans to assassinate Charlemagne, she ‘forgets’ to tell him and ‘accidentally’ tells Pippin when Charlemagne will be alone. Inside, she knows what she’s doing and what her agenda is, but outwardly her appearance is of a loving mother who tries her best to do the right thing and ‘spread a little sunshine’. She reassures the audience that she’s ‘just an ordinary housewife and mother, just like all you ordinary housewives and mothers out there’. She does this to try and get their empathy, to justify her actions, but the audience can see she’s far from ordinary.

LEWIS
Pippin’s stepbrother Lewis is ‘strong and stupid, an ideal soldier’. He is a successful warrior – ‘this arm slew twenty of the enemy and will slay even more Visigoths!’. He is proud of his achievements on the battlefield. He is quite child-like, getting satisfaction from receiving gifts, which make him excited – ‘see how I shine!’. Lewis loves his mother very much and is looks to her for reassurance.

BERTHA
Bertha is Pippin’s grandmother. She has a ‘live life to the full’ approach on life and is seemingly happily settled at her home in the countryside. She is sixty six years old and advises Pippin to not waste his life dithering because it’ll be gone in ‘no time at all’.

CATHERINE
Catherine is a widow with a small son and a large estate. She describes herself as an ‘average ordinary kind of woman’. She had a hard time when her husband died, but she seems to have dealt with it and now lives happily and is symbolic of domestic bliss. She is kind, and takes Pippin in when she finds him lying in the road ‘like a discarded rag’. She is very down to earth and of everyone in the show, seems the most ‘ordinary’.  She liked having Pippin around, maybe because it was someone to talk to on an adult level. Without Pippin, it must be quite lonely with just Theo to keep her company, although she does have labourers working on the estate. She seems to have dealt with the death of her husband by keeping busy looking after Theo and the estate.