M
Hardly the ultra-cool and complex boss of James Bond, the “M” in his play stands for Man (and, it would seem Middle) and that is about the extent of his complexity. He appears on stage only as a face occupying one of three identical grey funeral urns. M is situated in the middle urn, directly between those appearing to his immediate right and his immediate left.
W1
The occupant of the urn to the right of M is W1. As might be suspected, the W stands for Woman and her numerical priority is indicative of her superior social position to M. W1 is the unnamed and most undistinguished wife or domestic partner of the equally ambiguous M.
W2
Separated from W1 by the virtue of the man in the middle is the character to the left of M. Her numerically submissive status to W1 despite an otherwise perfectly equitable physical status is suggestive of her role in the domestic hierarchy. She is, as might also be expected, “the other woman” in the historically documented love triangle which provides the play’s only real sense of dramatic tension.
