Woman in Mind - Characters

Characters

The central character in Woman in Mind is, of course, Susan. She is a housewife who, in reality, is neglected by her husband, patronised by her sister-in-law, and estranged from her son. In her own imaginary world, by contrast, she is happy, successful, and loved by her perfect family. Susan remains on-stage throughout the play, and everything seen and heard on stage is what is seen and heard by Susan, both real and imagined.

There are four other real characters in the play:

• Gerald, Susan's real husband, a vicar whose interest in his wife has long since faded in favour of his book and undivided attention to his sister;
• Muriel, live-in sister to Gerald, dead weight about the house, self-centred, and an unimaginably bad cook;
• Rick, Susan's real son, who joined a cult that forbids members to speak to their parents; and
• Bill Windsor, Susan's doctor who has a greater fondness for Susan than one would expect.

Contrasting Susan's own family are three imaginary characters, existing only in Susan's mind (and therefore visible to the audience):

• Andy, Susan's imaginary husband, handsome, devoted, master cook, and everything missing from Gerald;
• Tony, Susan's imaginary young brother, again devoted, mischievous, and presumably compensation for Gerald's devotion to Muriel; and
• Lucy, Susan's imaginary daughter, beautiful, close, and, unlike Rick, shares every secret with her.

At first, the imaginary characters are distinguished from the real characters by their white summery outfits. However, as Susan's mind goes out of control, the real characters start entering Susan's imaginary world, until it is very difficult to tell what is real and what is pretend.