The Swastika Party

The Characters

The Characters came surprisingly easy to me. I often create characters with actors in mind. These actors don’t always end up acting in the play, but I often find myself inspired by the people around me.

Victoria - “Vicky” Sutton is the youngest of the four characters in The Swastika Party, in her mid-twenties - young, head-strong, committed and also a little scared of life’s depths. In life, those she most feels in her heart she couldn’t love, are those who might most make her happy. Vicky is frightened of finding life a disappointment in the long run and fills her hours with physical busyness. She is a bit of a tom-boy,a fire service engineer, yet also enjoys the attention of men in a London where she is freer to explore life than ever before.

Mary Daly is the oldest of the characters, almost thirty, a second generation Irish, living in Kilburn in London. Mary works for the Home Office, part of her work being administering the monitoring of “groups” in London, such as the British Union of Fascists. Like Vicky, family is important to her, as are her roots in Ireland to which she harbours a romantic wish to return one day. Mary is kind-hearted but also has experienced the harsher side of growing up in a minority in London. She is a little broody about marriage and children.

Kitty Reynolds, in her late twenties, is the gentle ruler of the roost. She holds the shared household together. Kitty works in a typing pool of a government department. She is a strong spirit and individual and cares little for the “community” soul developed during the Blitz. Kitty feels a little trapped in the huddle of war time London and dreams of travel and adventure. She feels empowered by the War in some ways, enjoying the freedom to roam and be herself. Kitty is practical in daily life yet also believes in risk-taking and challenge.

Sarah Bennett is mid-twenties and a teacher. She is shy and finds living with her companions both challenging and also releasing. They are helping her to “come out of herself” a little. Sarah isn’t as close to her family as the others and finds it hard to express her emotions. On the rare occasions that she does they tend to be extreme. Sarah’s way of coping with the war is in her care for others and her work in the school. Sarah is an intense soul, good hearted, cautious and inexperienced with men. She is a loyal friend to the other three, who have grown used to her detached way, knowing it hides a heart of gold.