Plautus the Tortoise (and other characters)
Lightning and his ancestor Plautus have kindly offered to introduce the other animals in their family. Though they lived around 190 years apart, they are very important in 'Arcadia' because they link the past and the present.
A Tortoise
Plautus lives at Sidley Park in 1809. He is looked after by Septimus Hodge, tutor to Thomasina Coverly, daughter to Lord and Lady Croom, who own the house. He acts as a paperweight for the whole family, which he will now introduce.
The Nineteenth Century Characters
Thomasina is a thirteen-year-old genius, who enjoys spending her time pondering complicated maths problems which she relates to her other interests, love and rice pudding.
Septimus, with whom Thomasina gradually falls in love, is also a genius and is quite a devilish character, who enjoys 'carnal embrace' with Mrs. Chater and teasing Mr. Chater, which regularly gets him into awkward situations.
Captain Brice, who is Lady Croom's nautical brother, also enjoys carnal embrace with Mrs. Chater.
Ezra Chater is a poet staying at Sidley Park so that Captain Brice can conduct his affair. Gullible Chater feels honoured that he should be invited to the house, thinking that Lord and Lady Croom are so impressed by his poetry that they want to have him to stay.
Lady Croom herself is actually acting in a similar way to Mrs. Chater, her marriage to Lord Croom being an unhappy one. She is particularly interested in Count Zelinsky. She enjoys being the Lady of the house and thinking up insults for Mr. Noakes' garden designs.
Mr Noakes is a rather awkward landscape gardener, who is trying to re-design Sidley Park garden. He makes use of a Newcomen steam engine, which he is very proud of.
Augustus is Thomasina's younger brother. He is played by the same actor as Gus, who I will come to in a minute.
Jellaby is the butler. Along with Plautus, he occasionally likes to laugh at the antics of his household, along with Plautus.
Another Tortoise
Lightning lives in the present day, about 190 years later. He enjoys looking after his little family, too, and takes great pride in his role of paperweight, a long tortoise tradition that he has carried on from his ancestor Plautus.
The Twentieth Century Characters
He is the proud owner of Valentine, who is the eldest son living at Sidley Park several generations on. He is another genius, who also enjoys pondering complicated maths problems, especially when they are centred around grouse.
Valentine's sister, Chloe Coverly, is an apparently innocent girl obsessed with love.
Their younger brother, Gus, is a silent, possibly autistic boy, who is actually a genius, too. He is secretly in love with Hannah.
Hannah Jarvis is an author who is staying at the house to do some research for her new book.
Bernard Nightingale is a pompous university lecturer, who wants to become famous. He comes to the house to get information from Hannah about a theory he has come up with about Byron and Chater.
Final Thoughts
That's all the characters. Lightning and Plautus look forward to seeing you soon. They are very excited about the play and promise to act as well as they can.