Alan Ineffectual, unambitious and henpecked. His belated access of self-recognition is crucial, not only raising his own moral stature but triggering a gradual realignment of all the characters.
Margaret His mistress, younger, harder, elegant, with a veneer of worldly wisdom. Genuinely fond of Alan, though impatient with his deficiencies, and using him in the hope for a happiness she has never really known since adolescence.
Barbara His wife, an intelligent but frustrated former academic, embittered by the unmerited curtailment of her career; cloaking her resentment and impatience with Alan under a mask of ironic detachment; nevertheless the first to recognise the significance of the crisis and ready to respond.
Set:
The sitting room of Alan and Barbara's flat; a door upstage leads by way of a hall to the unseen entrance door, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. Furniture includes the usual suite, and a drinks table with gin, whisky, mixers, glasses and a box of tissues. A telephone is beside the settee. A large picture window is probably on the "fourth wall" with a vestigial frame.
Time
The present. A spring evening, though there is not necessarily any indication of season.