12 August 2009 at 6.42pm | Comment on this article
As of Wednesday evening, 19:54 GMT, the key characters are as follows:
PEOPLE
William is triangulated in love and trying to escape from a tower. En route to celebrating his civil partnership with the heroic Hans, he spends a little while standing in Covent Garden with enigmatic biochemist The Woman With No Name (she can't decide whether she's Esmerelda, Helga or Iris, or perhaps each name reflects a facet of her personality).
Helga is a mathematician. (Helga isn't a mathematician. I got that wrong, sorry)
NOT PEOPLE (because birds are just birds, aren't they? Birds aren't animals. Would be very grateful if someone could clarify that for me ... Wikipedia says they're "Aves". So perhaps this should be "The Aves and The Beasts".)
The Birds are the chorus, some of whom occasionally contribute to the action. Although occasionally some Squirrels drop in to provide some incidental music.
Tobermory is an evil-genius type ginger cat.
Ceiling Cat is certainly god-like if not actually god - so I assume this means that the Basement Cat is almost the devil. Not that I want to influence anything. Oh no.
INCIDENTAL CHARACTERS
The Aspiring Toreador
Circus Sword Swallower
The Surrealist Gypsies
Guardian of the Fish Sword