Mad Padraic
The protagonist of the play is not labelled "mad" for nothing; in fact he seems to be psychotic, sadistic and completely unable to control his emotions. He has a disgusting disregard for the value of anyone's life, except for his cat, Wee Thomas, whom he feels is his only friend.
Padraic has a vendetta against drug dealers who sell drugs to Catholic kids. He does not seem to have the same dislike for those who sell drugs to Protestant kids, showing again his wholly Narcissistic view of life. This is just one of the things that has brought him to the attention of those running the INLA - and not in a positive way. They are furious that he hurt a drug dealer they were protecting and they have heard that he wants to form a splinter group of the INLA which in itself was a splinter group from the IRA. The latter organization kicked Padraic out for being too radical.
Padraic, initially not at all attracted to Mairead, finds himself falling in love with her and loving her adoration of him. He is sincere in his marriage proposal and also feels that marrying her would solidify his position at the top of the splinter group tree. Padraic is a man of violence and there is really nothing else to him other than that.
Mairead
As violent and political as Padraic, Mairead is only sixteen years old but already committed to being a terrorist. She is also committed to Padraic, and saves his life on a couple of occasions thanks in part to her skill at shooting her targets in the eyes, and in part to her talent for eavesdropping on other people's conversations. She, like Padraic, values only the life of her cat, and it is discovering that he has been shot that turns her against Padraic immediately. Mairead has no trouble hurting or killing anyone.
Davey
Everything starts with Davey; he is the one who finds Wee Thomas' corpse; he is the one who wants to help Donny cover up the death; he is the one who manages to antagonize his sister and remind her that she is good at shooting things in the eye. Davey does not seem to want to get involved in either politics or terrorism; he lives in a bad area of Inishmore but generally minds his own business. He is the older sibling but very much the subordinate one.
Donny
Padraic's father drinks too much, but given the circumstances of his life, this is entirely understandable. It does, though, get him into a lot of trouble and almost gets him killed when he fails to wake form his drunken stupor before his son gets home. Donny does not seem to have the violence within him that Padraic has, and in the context of the play at least, seems to be a man who would like an easy life, but knows that because of his son, he is not likely to have one.
Christy
Christy is introduced in the play as Padraic's friend, but we later discover that he is an assassin on behalf of the INLA, and his task is to kill Padraic. Christy wears a patch over one eye; we learn that this is because his eye was shot out by Padraic, and so knowing this it becomes clear that although he is carrying out orders from his superiors, his motivation to kill Padraic might also be quite personal. He was the killer of Wee Thomas - or the cat he believed to be Wee Thomas.
Brendan and Joey
Brendan and Joey are junior members of the INLA and are charged with the job of helping Christy kill Padraic. They are killed by Mairead when she shoots them both in the eyes.
James
Drug dealer James is also a cat lover, which as it turns out is what ultimately saves his life and also saves him from suffering unimaginable torture at the hands of Padraic. James has a cat that suffered from ringworm, which he treated successfully with medication, hiding each pill in a piece of cheese to make it more palatable. HIs love for his cat changes Padraic's mind about him and he is ultimately freed from the warehouse where Padtraic is torturing him.
Wee Thomas
Padraic's only friend is Wee Thomas, a black cat that he has had since he was fifteen years old. Wee Thomas is un-neutered and therefore likes to roam the streets at night looking for female cats. When Christy arrives at the house to kill Padraic, he finds a black cat outside and assumes it to be Wee Thomas, but true to proverb, Wee Thomas has nine lives, and actually manages to stay out of harms way until the end of the play when he deigns to return home for his dinner.
Sir Roger
A rotund orange cat, Sir Roger belongs to Mairead and is the love of her life. When she finds that he has been killed, she realizes that he was shot by Padraic, and for this she kills her now fiance. Poor Sir Roger is also painted with shoe polish by Donny and Davey in an attempt to disguise him as Wee Thomas and avoid the rage of Padtraic.
