Gormenghast

I found another panto on YouTube with good picture quality, good production quality, and even though it is a 2020 production this one is traditional.

 A proper Boy, a good Dame, and they even have a Panto Horse. But then comes this moment:

The villain enters Stage Right. The Good Fairy enters Stage Left. They explain the story to come and they do so in rhyming verse and all of a sudden we're back 400 years or more, seeing something strange and unfamiliar, something straight out of the Mystery Plays. A glimpse into ritual and deep history.

And then it's back to jokes about social distancing and pop songs and pies to the face. Craig Fergusson once described panto as Mama Mia performed by the Three Stooges for the audience of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I'm not sure you could do better. I did a whole chapter on it in the London book but even then my protagonist ended up calling it indescribable.

That idea I had over brunch continued to grow. It isn't just Penny thinking about family and finally explaining a little to the reader. This is going to be Gally's first real appearance (she was previously in a brief phone call from Japan). And she's going to do something that opens up the question again of whether there might be a reason Penny's been having all these adventures.

Like I said, series isn't selling. My confidence isn't growing, either. But I am getting closer and closer to resuming writing anyhow.