The Director / Enrique
This figure is the principal character and is the director of a play. A long time ago he had a love affair with Gonzalo who is also the first man. In the beginning, he puts a mask on his homosexuality, denying it but as the play goes along he starts to taking the mask off and transforming into a diversity of feminine characters. In the end, after many doubts, he finally takes his mask off facing a homophobic society.
Man 1 / Gonzalo
He is an old lover of Enrique and is the only character who doesn’t wear a mask, in that way showing his real authentic love for the director. He is a fighter against the homophobic society and tries to fight for the relationship he and the director have. In all of the transformations he had on the play, always keeps a manly appearance.
The Horses
They are symbols of vitality, action and the force of life. Also represents the public of the bourgeoisie that likes simple and classic theater. In the play, they try to rape Juliet.
Elena
She is the director wife, she is used as a cover to keep the appearance of the director’s homosexuality. She also represents homophobia and is the one who denounces and reveals to the public that Juliet is, in fact, a boy, causing the death of the actors of the play.
The Emperor
He is also one of the characters who represent homophobia, but in this case, he “incarnates the moral censorship that the unity value”. Unity means the only existent model of the heterosexual family.
Centurion
This character represents the manly stereotype of the virile masculinity. He is rude and coarse, again represents homophobia, especially rejecting queer mannerisms.
Juliet
She represents the classic Shakespearean theater. Her love story is a symbol for the traditional way of things to happen in a couple and in a theater. In the play inside the play, we discover that she is in reality play by a boy and that causes a lot of trouble, that shows the prejudices the public have.
The Dummy Pastor
He only appears in two pages of the play reciting or singing a poem, symbolizing the usual character that entertains and introduce a play in the well known “gold century theater”. Through a hard riddle full of words with second meanings introduces the themes of homosexuality, oppression by the society and religion, the need of freedom to love and the differences of the outdoor theater and the theater under the sand. He also reinforces the idea of the masks, declaring that the ones who will suffer from them are the children, the homeless, the poets and people who say the truth.
Red Naked Man
This is a Christ-like character that appears with the symbols like the saint sheet, the oil, the gall, the blood of his wounds and many more. He is the symbol of the suffering the homosexuals have been through and a reminder of the compassion we should have.
Students
They represent conscious intellectuals who enjoy a more interesting and new theater.
