Ian
Ian is a middle-aged Welsh journalist. In his initial introduction to the play, he is depicted as racist, homophobic and misogynistic, and regularly complains about non-white people flooding into England. He is also excessively abusive and manipulative towards Cate, a young woman whose vulnerability he takes great advantage of. He belittles Cate and coerces her into performing sexual favors she does not want to perform throughout the play.
Ian drinks excessively, smokes in spite of the fact that he has completely ruined his lungs, and is cynical and paranoid, carrying a revolver with him wherever he goes. When the Soldier reveals to him the macabre war crimes he has committed, Ian is disgusted, implying that under his macho bitterness, Ian still possesses some sense of humanity and ethics.
Cate
Cate is a young, innocent-minded woman. In comparison to Ian, Cate is incredibly naive and nervous in her disposition, occasionally stuttering and passing out when she feels overwhelmed or intimidated. She is accepting and progressive, scolding Ian for his bigoted viewpoints. Despite her initial naivety, Cate seems somewhat unfazed by the horrors of the outside world, and even willingly escapes the hotel room to venture into the war-torn city. Although she is innocent, Cate ends up being the strongest character. By the end of the play she has taken on a position of control, feeding the dependent Ian, who has mistreated her so much.
The Soldier
Midway through the play, it is revealed that there is a war occurring outside, and the Soldier enters the hotel room. He is the mouthpiece and the symbol of the ongoing wartime atrocities, as he describes to Ian the awful things that he has witnessed, and done. Previously, it was Ian that had been portrayed as the supposedly macho, red-blooded man, but he is reduced to a distressed wreck upon hearing the Soldier's tales.
If Ian seemed like a reprehensible figure, the Solider represents the truly abhorrent side of society. While it is revealed that he has committed unspeakable crimes, the Soldier claims to have done it to avenge his lover, who was murdered by soldiers in the war; his initially odious character appears to have flickers of humanity, suggesting that his role is more complex than it appears at first glance. Nevertheless, he is a brutish man, and he rapes and blinds Ian without a thought, and brags about all of the horrific things he has done to people in the war.
