Character guide

Martin Doul

major

Also known as Martin, Martin Doul Sadly, Martin Doul Listening, Martin Doul Impatiently, Martin Doul Sitting, Martin Doul In, Martin Doul Interested, Martin Doul’ll

Martin Doul spends his days on the roadside with his wife Mary, trading barbs and half-believed flatteries about their hidden beauty, and dreaming of seeing himself for one hour. When a wandering saint cures his blindness, the face he finally sees—his own and Mary's—shatters the lie that sustained him. His restless vanity and refusal to work make him both comic and painfully human as the play tests whether sight is a gift or a punishment.

Mary Doul

major

Also known as Mary, Mary Doul Ay, Mary Doul Bitterly, Mary Doul Standing, Mary Doul Stiffly

Mary Doul has spent years defending her reputation as 'the beautiful dark woman' of Ballinatone, dismissing Molly Byrne's mockery as jealousy and clinging to the compliments of local men. Her complacent vanity is her armor against a life of rain, hunger, and roadside begging. When sight arrives, the gap between the face she believed she had and the one she sees becomes the play's sharpest instrument for exposing how self-deception can be kinder than truth.

Timmy the smith

supporting

Also known as Timmy, Timmy Huffed, Timmy Gruffly, Timmy Awkwardly, Timmy Shaking, Timmy Suspicious, Timmy Anxiously, Timmy Ay, Timmy Turning Martin Doul

Timmy is the local smith whose forge becomes a gathering place and whose opinions carry weight in the village. He hires Martin to cut sticks, then bullies him about laziness, revealing a hard practicality laced with cruelty. His pursuit of Molly Byrne and his contempt for the beggars place him at the center of the play's social world, embodying the seeing community's casual disdain for those it pities.

Molly Byrne

supporting

Also known as Molly, Molly Byrne Hastily, Molly Byrne Interested

Molly Byrne is the village beauty, confident in her looks and careless with her words—she is the one who called Mary Doul 'little more than a fright.' She enjoys Timmy's attention and the power her beauty gives her over the men around her. Her presence sharpens the beggars' sense of what they lack, and her casual cruelty helps set in motion the events that lead them to the saint's well.

The Saint

supporting

Also known as Saint, Saint Waving, Saint Tying, Mat Simon The Saint, Mat Simon, Mat, Saint To Martin Doul

The Saint travels through Ireland with a sup of holy water, naked feet, and a following crowd, curing the blind and dying as he goes. He is gaunt from fasting, earnest in his faith, and genuinely convinced he is doing God's work. When he restores Martin and Mary's sight, he becomes the catalyst for the play's central question: whether a miracle that reveals ugliness is a blessing or a curse, and who has the right to decide.

Bride

minor

A local woman who appears in the village scenes.

Patch Ruadh

minor

A blind man mentioned but not seen on stage.