WILLIAM HONE – thirty-seven. Shy,
mild-mannered and genial bookseller and satirist who has the inner steel to
take on the Crown and government.
GEORGE CRUIKSHANK – twenty-five
(fifty in last scene). The scabrous cartoonist and Hone’s partner in crime.
Penniless, drunk and dissolute, he renounces booze by the end of the play.
SARAH HONE – thirty-five. Hone’s
long-suffering but fiercely loyal wife, who is mother to their eight children
while running Hone’s shop and business when he’s in jail.
LORD ELLENBOROUGH – sixty-seven.
Hone’s nemesis. The bullying Cumbrian Lord Chief Justice who will stop at
nothing to win the case.
SIR SAMUEL SHEPHERD – fifty-seven.
Crown Prosecutor. Incapable of keeping the trials serious.
LORD SIDMOUTH – sixty. Home
Secretary. Keen to pass the buck for the government’s failure to stop Hone.
JUSTICE ABBOTT – sixty. Judge in
the first trial. Powerless to stop the courtroom descending into farce. Makes
the cardinal error of acting constitutionally.
GEORGE, PRINCE REGENT –
fifty-four. None too bright and renowned for his debauchery, mistresses and
excess, the Prince Regent sided with the Tories to stamp on press freedom.
LADY HERTFORD – fifty-seven.
Prince George’s mistress, who is a figure of fun in the press and mercilessly
(and no doubt unfairly) attacked for her appearance.
LADY CONYNGHAM – thirty-seven.
Lady Hertford’s love rival in Court. Smarter than Lady Hertford, and considerably
more waspish.
DUKE OF YORK – fifty-three. The
Prince Regent’s brother, who is equally as debauched, and the source of
ridicule through the “Grand Old Duke of York” song – which he will never live
down.
WILLIAM HAZLITT – thirty-eight. A
caustic wit and essayist, Hazlitt despised almost all humanity – but admired
Hone.
MR SOUTHALL – thirties. An admirer
of Mr Hazlitt.
MARY – thirties. A visitor to Hone
while he is in jail, Mary may tempt him, but is not all who she seems.
CLERK IN COURT – twenties. Can’t
contain his fits of the giggles.
OFFICER – twenties. Initially
aggressive, he gets to like and sympathise with Hone.
SHERIFF – twenties. Officious, but
unable to control the court.
ELIZA FENNING – twenty. One of
Hone’s many causes. Hanged for allegedly putting arsenic in dumplings, and
victim of a miscarriage of justice – proved by Hone.
MOURNER – thirty. A young writer
who admired Hone, but only met him as he was dying.
YOUTH BY BOOKSHOP – seventeen.
CUB REPORTER – twenties.
WEATHERILL – twenty-five. A
student who is arrested at Hone’s trial.
FOREMAN OF JURY – forties. (may
just be a voice off).
FLUNKY – twenties. Cocky and
grovelling in equal measure.
TAVERN REVELLER – singer of bawdy
songs.
YOUTH
FEMALE ADMIRER/VIEWER
MAN IN CROWD
BALLADEER/TAVERN REVELLER