Antonia Minor

Antonia is the daughter of Mark Antony and grandmother to much of the imperial family in the twilight of Augustus's reign. Sharp-tongued and clear-eyed in a household riddled with poison and ambition, she watches her relatives with a mixture of exasperation and grief, trusting almost no one but seeing everything.

Tyzack plays her as the family's moral thermometer, dry and unsentimental, so that when she finally reacts with real horror the audience feels the weight of it. Her scenes with Claudius carry a rare, unguarded warmth, making her one of the few people in this snake pit who seems to actually love someone.