In A King, Riding the six personages are depicted by six singing voices accompanied by six instruments. Percival, the seventh character, also has a solo instrument, but no singing voice as he never speaks. This led to de Vries' concept of double personages; the symbiosis of the singing part and the solo instrument forms the personage as a whole (Deurzen 216). The solo instruments are accompanied by electronic sounds. These electronically created sounds have both the singing voices as the solo instruments as their source. A multi-layered idea of identity is then created. The first layer is formed by the singing voices. The second layer is formed by the solo-instrumental shadow, it has the same characteristics but is more vague and flexible than the voice. The third layer is formed by the electronics, the solo instruments are still recognizable, but get distorted (Deurzen 218).
