PSEUDOLUS

VOICE As written, baritone-ish, roughly A2–E4. An octave up, mezzo or alto, roughly A3–E5. Rhythm and diction matter enormously; beauty
of tone matters not at all.
PLAYING AGE 30–55
SINGING Constant. Opens the show, drives most of the ensemble numbers, is rarely off the stage.

A slave with one ambition — freedom — and a complete absence of scruple about how to get it. Talks to the audience, lies to everyone else, and improvises his way through a plot he is actively making worse.

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HERO

VOICE Tenor, roughly C3–A4. The prettiest singing in the show sits here.
PLAYING AGE 18–25
SINGING A lot, and genuinely lyrical — this one is a singing role first.
Senex’s son. Sweet, earnest, hopelessly in love, and entirely useless in a crisis. His job is to sing beautifully and be swept along by other people’s schemes.

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SENEX

VOICE Character baritone, roughly A2–E4. Must be heard; needn’t be admired.
PLAYING AGE 50–70
SINGING A fair bit, mostly in ensemble, all of it comic.
Head of the household, and a dirty old man with the timing of a metronome. Married to Domina, terrified of Domina, and briefly convinced that a beautiful young woman has been delivered to his house as a servant. Wrong about that, as about most things.

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MILES GLORIOSUS

VOICE As written, bass-baritone with weight, roughly G2–F4. An octave up, mezzo or dramatic alto with real chest, roughly G3–F5. Either way it wants a genuine top E and F, delivered without a flicker of irony.
PLAYING AGE 30–45
SINGING A grand entrance number and a strong presence in the second act. Not enormous, but every note counts.

A captain of vast military reputation, most of it supplied by himself. Vain, humourless, magnificent. He has come to collect his purchased bride and is not in a flexible mood. The bigger and more sincere the performance, the funnier it gets.

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HYSTERIUM

VOICE As written, baritone or tenor, roughly B2–F♯4 — a usable falsetto is a considerable asset. An octave up, mezzo or soprano, roughly B3–F♯5, where the falsetto gag is simply handed to you.
PLAYING AGE 30–55
SINGING A great deal, including one number about being calm, sung while not being calm.
Chief slave of the house of Senex. Fussy, loyal, permanently on the edge of a collapse. Spends the second act in a dress, playing a corpse, being carried about. A wonderful part for someone with no dignity to lose.

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PHILIA

VOICE Soprano, roughly A3–G5. Clean, sweet, unforced.
PLAYING AGE 17–22
SINGING A lot, and lovely.
A courtesan-in-training, sold to a soldier, in love with Hero. Radiantly beautiful and profoundly, gloriously stupid — she has been trained in beauty and nothing else, and says so, proudly. The comedy comes from playing her sincerity absolutely straight. Any wink to the audience kills it.

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DOMINA

VOICE Mezzo or alto with a solid belt, roughly G3–E5.
PLAYING AGE 45–65
SINGING One substantial solo, plus ensemble. Not a large sing, but a big one.
Senex’s wife. Formidable, humourless, and entirely correct in her suspicions about her husband. She has one song in which she itemises his failings and it should stop the show. A superb part for someone who can be genuinely frightening and utterly ridiculous in the same bar.

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MARCUS LYCUS

VOICE Character baritone or tenor, roughly B2–D4. Light singing.
PLAYING AGE 40–60
SINGING A bit — one ensemble number and some incidental work. Mostly a speaking and selling role.

A dealer in beautiful women who is, to be blunt, no good at it. Oily, ingratiating, chronically overconfident about his stock, and easily outmanoeuvred by Pseudolus. Every courtesan gets an introduction from Lycus, and the gap between his description and the evidence is where the audience finds him out.

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ERRONIUS

VOICE Anything you can carry a tune with, in any octave. Nobody will be listening to the pitch.
PLAYING AGE 60–80
SINGING Eight words. Two brief interjections in the opening number, one short phrase in the finale. We have counted, and we will be counting.

An old man, hard of hearing and half-blind, who has spent years searching for his stolen children and is then sent to run round the seven hills of Rome seven times — a task he accepts without question and spends most of the show completing. A tremendous part for a character actor who can raise a laugh by walking slowly across the stage. Almost entirely comic business.

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