To suggest links between past and present lives, all actors except those playing Kate-Siobhan and the two water spirits perform paired (or tripled) roles in the 21st and 16th centuries. (See below.) To keep cast size to nine, actors portraying Greta/Mette and Archivist/Afkoot can play the water spirits.
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DR. KATE-SIOBHAN DONOGHUE: American professor of Irish literature, female, fifty-two
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DI UALE DIIP: The Old Deep, a water spirit, female, utterly ancient; she appears as an old Frisian woman
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YOUNG KATE-SIOBHAN: Kate at nine
SIBBRICH: Edde Ferman’s daughter, twelve
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UWE HANSEN: cargo ship captain and Kate’s cousin, male, early sixties;
EDDE FERMAN: a North Sea ferryman, forties
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DR. DAN DINNEEN: Irish Studies professor, Kate’s American colleague, male, fifty-two;
HANS EDDESEN: Edde Fermans’ son, also a ferryman, twenty-one
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IRMGARD HANSEN (-SCHMIDT): Kate’s cousin, an English teacher, thirty;
SEAN-GERHARD DONOGHUE: Kate’s twin brother at nine;
VOLQUARD EDDESEN: Edde Ferman’s younger son, early teens
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GRETA DONOGHUE: Kate’s mother, eighties;
METTE: Edde Ferman’s second wife, forties
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FEDDER NISSEN: North Frisian historian, male, late fifties;
EDDE JUNSSEN: A retired ferryman, Edde Ferman’s father, sixties
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ANDREA JENSEN: craniosacral therapist and dressmaker, female, forties;
DREWES OTZENN: cloth merchant, male, forties
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DE BLANKE HANS: The North Sea, a water spirit, male, age unknown; he appears in his vigorous prime
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ARCHIVIST: male, thirties;
DI AFKOOT: notary, male, thirties
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The actress playing Greta/Mette also appears briefly as CLAN MOTHER, VIKING WIDOW, and TRAVELING PHARMACIST. Actors playing Dan, Fedder, Irmgard, and Andrea appear as WATCHMAKER, LANDOWNER, DUCHY COMMISSIONER, and CORPORAL. Actors playing Greta, Dan, and Irmgard also may appear in the family group in Act III, Scene 1.
