This play is possibly an Admiral's play performed at the Theatre. The script has been lost, but a plot describing entrances, exits, properties, and the like, survives. The character descriptions are gleaned from this plot in Greg's Dramatic Documents from the Elizabethan Playhouses, Oxford, rept. 1969.
a synoptic, alphabetical character list
ALLCYANE
She is beloved of Laertes and daughter of Tesephon. Her father wishes her to marry Carynus. When she chooses Laertes instead, her father condemns her to prison. While there, she and Statyra overhear Carynus and Prelior discussing the plan of Tesephon and Allgerius, who plan to drug the women and force them to marry the men that their fathers have chosen. With the aid of the jailor, they summon Laertes and Eschines to their rescue. The women then pretend to have been poisoned by the drug while the magician Urganda accuses the fathers of murder. Urganda later punishes the wrongdoers and restores Allcyane to her chosen lover.
ALLGERIUS
Statyra's father. He wishes her to marry Prelior. With Tesephon, he plots to drug their imprisoned daughters and force them to marry the men their fathers have chosen. The magician Urganda tricks them into believing that they have instead poisoned the women. They are then arrested and brought before King Egereon. He is spared from execution only when Urganda sends faeries to dismiss the executioner. He is then reunited with his daughter and reconciled to her choice of husband.
ASSPIDA
A character from the ill-defined subplot. Probably Pantaloon's wife.
BELLEVEILLE
A disguise adopted by Eschines on the advice of the magician Urganda. What end this disguise serves is obscured by the sketchy state of the surviving plot.
CARYNUS
Tesephon favors him as suitor to his daughter, Allcyane. He and Prelior are the wicked suitors of the play. They plot with the women's fathers to drug and marry the women. Urganda punishes him and Prelior by driving them mad with a magic mirror. Both men are probably restored to their senses by play's end, but the sketchy nature of the surviving plor does not make this entirely clear.
EGEREON, KING
He enters in spectacle toward the end of the play. He arrives to view the execution of Tesephon and Allgerius, whom Urganda has accused of poisoning their daughters. It is a trick, however, and Urganda delays the execution with magic and finally dismisses the executioner by summoning three antic faeries. When the daughters are produced, the king sets the fathers free.
ESCHINES
Friend of Laertes and suitor to Statyra. He befriends the magician Urganda, who advises him to disguise himself as Bellveille. Summoned by his lady's jailor, he is in time to thwart a plot to drug her and marry her to Prelior. Urganda then punishes the conspiring rivals and fathers before restoring Statyra to him.
EXECUTIONER
He is summoned to dispatch Tesephon and Allgerius. He is dismissed, however, when Urganda conjures three antic faeries to drive him from the stage.
FAERIES, THREE ANTIC
Summoned by Urganda's magic, they halt the execution of Tesephon and Allgerius and dismiss the executioner.
JAILOR
He is placed in charge of Allcyane and Statyra when they refuse to marry the men that their fathers have chosen for them. When the women overhear a plot to drug them and force them to marry, the jailor is prevailed upon to summon their true loves, Eschines and Laertes, who effect the rescue.
LAERTES
Friend of Eschines and suitor to Allcyane. He befriends the magician Urganda. Summoned by his lady's jailor, he is in time to thwart a plot to drug her and marry her to Carynus. Urganda then punishes the conspiring rivals and fathers before restoring Allcyane to him.
LORDS, TWO
They attend King Egereon at the execution of Tesephon and Allgerius.
MESSENGER
He enters to Tesephon and Allgerius, perhaps under Urganda's watchful eye. His purpose is obscure owing to the sketchy state of the surviving plot. There is a conjecture that he was played by Richard Burbage, but W.W. Greg doubts this, preferring Urganda's part for Burbage.
PANTALOON
Also spelled Panteloun. Sometimes used as a proper name, sometimes as a stock designation "the pantaloon." He is a character in the ill-defined subplot. He is Asspida's husband and Peascod's master, and he enters towards the end of the play with a trunk presumably containing the titular fortune. We know little of his plot owing to the sketchy state of the surviving plot.
PANTALOON'S MAN
A character in the ill-defined subplot. Possibly this is a reference to Peascod, but the reference is obscure owing to the sketchy nature of the surviving plot.
PEASCOD
Possibly Pantaloon's man in the ill-defined subplot. He apparently "takes leave of father before seeking his fortune in service" according to W.W. Greg's guess from the surviving plot.
PEASCOD'S FATHER
A character from the ill-defined subplot. He likely appears to allow Peascod to ask his blessing before seeking his fortune. The surviving plot is unclear.
PRELIOR
Allgerius favors him as suitor to his daughter, Statyra. He and Carynus are the wicked suitors of the play. They plot with the women's fathers to drug and marry the women. Urganda punishes him and Carynus by driving them mad with a magic mirror. Both men are probably restored to their senses by play's end, but the sketchy nature of the surviving plot does not make this entirely clear.
ROSE
A character in the ill-defined subplot. Asspida's maid.
SATYRS
They appear in the ill-defined subplot. Their action is unclear.
STATYRA
She is beloved of Eschines and daughter of Allgerius. Her father wishes her to marry Prelior. When she chooses Eschines instead, her father condemns her to prison. While there, she and Allcyane overhear Carynus and Prelior discussing the plan of Tesephon and Allgerius, who plan to drug the women and force them to marry the men that their fathers have chosen. With the aid of the jailor, they summon Laertes and Eschines to their rescue. The women then pretend to have been poisoned by the drug while the magician Urganda accuses the fathers of murder. Urganda later punishes the wrongdoers and restores Allcyane to her chosen lover.
TESEPHON
Allcyane's father. He wishes her to marry Carynus. With Allgerius, he plots to drug their imprisoned daughters and force them to marry the men their fathers have chosen. The magician Urganda tricks them into believing that they have instead poisoned the women. They are then arrested and brought before King Egereon. He is spared from execution only when Urganda sends faeries to dismiss the executioner. He is then reunited with his daughter and reconciled to her choice of husband.
URGANDA
A magician who befriends Laertes and Eschines. He advises Eschines to disguise himself as Bellveille (the reasons for this are unclear in the surviving plot). After Tesephon and Allgerius plot to drug Allcyane and Statyra, the magician devises a counterplot wherein the women pretend to be poisoned by their fathers's drug. Urganda then accuses the fathers of murder and has them arrested. He next visits the rival, wicked suitors Carynus and Prelior and, with the aid of a magic mirror, drives them into madness. He delays the execution of the fathers with magic tricks and conjures three antic faeries to dismiss the executioner. He then reveals that the women are not dead. The fathers are freed and reconciled to their daughters' choice. It is likely that he also restores the senses of the rival suitors, but the imperfect state of the surviving plot makes this unclear.