Fictional Characters in Panto: Where's a Fairy Godmother When you Need One?

The Fictional Characters in Panto features are certainly proving very popular so today I'm pleased to welcome Margaret James with her casting.

It’s Christmas and that means pantomimes, doesn’t it? Well, here in the UK it means pantomimes, stage shows in which traditional fairy tales are loosely – sometimes very loosely – reinterpreted as opportunities for famous and not-so-famous celebrities to do their party pieces, excuses for the loud and out-of-tune community singing of current pop songs, and chances for the smaller children in the audience to get up on stage and be acutely embarrassed in exchange for a lollipop or one of the celebrity’s latest CDs.

My novel The Wedding Diary features the tag line where’s a fairy godmother when you need one. The fairy godmother is a key character in the pantomime of Cinderella, and my version of Cinderella was certainly lots of fun to write. 

My heroine Cat doesn’t exactly sit at home in the kitchen while her ugly sisters (in Cat’s case her friends Tess and Bex) go off to the ball. But at the start of the story poor Cat has just been dumped by a heartless rascal and she’s feeling very sorry for herself. As for Prince Charming – in this case he’s a builder who specialises in restoring stately homes and he’s not remotely rich or famous, but he is very gorgeous and you can’t have everything – my Prince Adam needs a lady in his life. But he’s already had his heart broken by one daddy’s little princess and he hasn’t much inclination to look around for another one. 

But we all know love makes the world go round. So Fanny Gregory, a PR executive who is perfectly cast as the most feisty, flirty, flighty fairy godmother you’ll ever meet, feels she has to bring these two lost souls together. Of course she thinks about it for all of five seconds before deciding they are a perfect match. Then she almost literally throws them at each other and assumes they will collide, whether they like it or not. 

As far as Cat and Adam are concerned, getting hurt again isn’t high on their to-do lists. But, as they soon realise, resistance to fairy godmothers is useless. So they smile nicely and speak politely, even though neither is desperate to fall in love. But you know what? They find they can’t help it. Fanny waves her magic wand, sprinkles some fairy dust on them and it all happens for Cat and Adam.

Fairy godmothers might be bossy, self-opinionated and believe they know everything. But that’s because they are always right. 

Where's a Fairy Godmother when you need one? 

If you won a fairy-tale wedding in a luxury hotel, you'd be delighted - right? But what if you didn't have anyone to marry? Cat Aston did have a fiance, but now it looks like her Prince Charming has done a runner. 

Adam Lawley was left devastated when his girlfriend turned down his heartfelt proposal. He's made a vow never to fall in love again. 

So - when Cat and Adam meet, they shouldn't even consider falling in love. After all, they're both broken hearted. But for some reason they can't stop thinking about each other. Is this their second chance for happiness, or are some things just too good to be true? 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wedding-Diary-Choc-Charton-Minster-ebook/dp/B00C6BFEUC