Everybody

This role, played by the same actor and not included in the actor lottery, represents the mysterious leadership of the universe. These characters embody the illusion of control, showing that much of what happens to Everybody is about randomness and chance.

Jacobs-Jenkins specifies that the Usher should be “played by an actual usher—or at least it should initially seem so” (4). Since the Usher will be in charge of the play, the illusion that they are a real usher gives them immediate authority within the theatre space. However, an usher is also a low-level cog in the theatre machine, often a volunteer, keeping the actual power hierarchy of the theatre hidden. Similarly, although the Usher runs the play’s actor lottery, they have no control over the results; at the end of the play, the Usher is awestruck to meet Time, demonstrating that they don’t know everything about the larger forces at work in the universe.

God too is revealed to have little real control. God created the universe, but isn’t omnipotent or omniscient, expressing annoyance at the unpredictability of human behavior. God wants to learn more about humans by examining Everybody. Finally, while Understanding claims to guide Everybody’s faculties, giving Everybody the illusion of control over their body, Understanding can’t actually keep Everybody’s faculties from leaving or describe what death is before experiencing it.