The optional authorities

Master Sherlock Holmes (from Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) – I am a man with such superior detective skills that I have become world famous. I already know a lot about each of the suspects, just from looking at their appearance. For example, I can tell Alice is a little girl with a very fanciful imagination and Aladdin is from the Far East. But, I am not a great reader of fiction, I prefer to do chemical experiments and I also play the violin. This certainly does not seem like a normal case. It is more like the Mr Angel case. You may like to read about it in my diary, if you get time. Dress suggestions: Dress in old-fashioned clothes, carry a magnifying glass and a pipe.

Dr Watson (from Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) – I am a skilled doctor but I am also a bit of a cynic and a non-believer until something is proved true. I have great respect for Sherlock Holmes. Dress suggestions: Dress in old-fashioned clothes.

Mrs Bookworm (The librarian responsible for the cookie cupboard) – Although I try to be helpful, a lot of the children are afraid of me. I think it is because I am always telling them to be quiet in the library. But my bark is worse than my bite. I really love children. Dress suggestion: Spectacles, a chain around your neck with a key attached but hidden inside your blouse. A dress or skirt and blouse, but make sure whatever you wear has large pockets stuffed full of things.

Miss Marple (from Agatha Christie novels) – I am just an ordinary woman with a penchant for finding out the truth. Nothing goes unnoticed by me. Things are not what they seem. Dress suggestions: Old-fashioned clothes – very prim and proper. Carry your knitting.

The optional witnesses

Queen of Hearts (from Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll) Oh there is so much to tell – all about the tea cups and my shouting “Off with his head! or “Off with her head” and all the other people Alice met in Wonderland, but it would take too long. Alice comes into the library and looks at the children’s books. Dress suggestions: Wear white & stick big red cardboard hearts on your clothes.

White Rabbit (from Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll) `Silence in the court!’ I am a very busy rabbit. “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!” Dress suggestions: As a white rabbit. Wear a waistcoat and have a pocket-watch hanging out of it. Consult it often. Also wear spectacles. Add a white fluffy bottom and some rabbit ears.

The Fairy Godmother (from Cinderella) After working all day on her chores, Cinderella often wondered if she would ever be happy again. The ladies of her household were invited to the Duke’s ball. But Cinderella’s step-mother said she could not go unless her chores were done. Fortunately, I came to Cinderella’s aid and – well, you all know the rest of the story. Dress suggestions: Dress like a fairy complete with wings and a wand with which to grant wishes.

The Queen (from Snow White by The Brothers Grimm) I dressed as an ‘old pedlar woman’ and sold Snow White some lace for her waist. Then I laced her up so tight, she `lost … (her) breath, and fell down as dead.’ Unfortunately, the seven dwarfs soon returned and cut the lace in two, so that she could draw breath. I knew she wasn’t dead because my mirror told me so, so I came again with a poisoned apple. The dwarfs thought Snow White was dead. A prince saw her and carried her away. Then the apple fell out of her mouth and she came back to life and they married. Dress suggestions: Dress as a queen with a crown and a long gown. Add a nasty face mask.

Wendy (from Peter and Wendy by Sir James Matthew Barry) I am Wendy Darling. Peter started to visit us at night and then he took my brothers and I with him to Never Never Land. Dress suggestions: Dress in old-fashioned little-girl clothes. Have your hair tied in two pig-tails with pretty ribbon.

Tinkerbell (from Peter and Wendy by Sir James Matthew Barry) There is also a crocodile that follows us about that has a clock inside his belly going tick, tick, tick. I used my magic fairy dust to help Peter Pan and Wendy and the others to fly. On the island there are lots of fairies. “When the first baby laughed for the very first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about and that was the beginning of the fairies.” Dress suggestions: Dress as a golden fairy with a little bell you always ring as you move about.

Wizard of Oz (from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum) To get to my place you follow the yellow brick road. People think that I can accomplish anything. Dorothy and her friends came to see me. The Scarecrow was in search of a brain. They all expected me to wave a magic wand and to solve their problems for them, but I didn’t. Dress suggestions: A wizard’s outfit with stars and the moon on it and with a long pointy hat.

Scarecrow (from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum) I was very upset because I didn’t think I had the intelligence to be able to capture the Wicked Witch. But we did succeed and so we returned to see the Wizard, only to find he wasn’t really able to do anything. But he did point out to us that we already possessed what we sought. I already had a brain. I just had to start using it. Dress suggestions: Dress as a scarecrow with bits of straw coming out of your torn and tattered clothes (eg check flannel shirt and blue overalls).

The Grandmother (from Little Red Riding Hood) The Big Bad Wolf locked me in the cupboard. So Little Red Riding Hood, said to the Wolf who was sitting in bed dressed in my nightgown, ‘Why, Granny…what big eyes you have got.’ And the wolf said, ‘The better to see you with, my child,’ imitating my voice. I won’t bore you with the rest as you have probably all heard the story. Most versions of the story end happily with Little Red Riding Hood being saved from the wolf’s clutches by her father and the woodcutters. Dress suggestions: A long nightgown with a bed-jacket and a bonnet on your head.

Papa Bear (from Goldilocks and the Three Bears) Goldilocks tasted my porridge, sat in my chair and lay on my bed. But she found my porridge too hot and my chair and my bed too hard. Dress suggestions: Dress as a large-sized father bear but with normal clothes on top.

The Genie (from The Adventures of Aladdin) I helped Aladdin to become a prince. I live in Aladdin’s magic lamp. Dress suggestions: Wear middle eastern clothes (eg baggy trousers) and a turban. Carry the lamp in which you live.

Characters from other books

Thumbeline (from Thumbeline by Hans Christian Andersen) I was born to be very, very tiny, no bigger than a lady’s thumb and I slept in a lacquered walnut shell with a rose petal coverlet. I was stolen by an ugly toad that wanted me to marry her son. Yuk!! Some fish helped me escape and I had many adventures. I ended up spending the winter with a kind field mouse, but she wanted me to marry the neighboring boring old mole. After befriending a poor injured swallow because we were both great singers, he flew me off to his home. Poor Swallow had fallen in love with me, but when he put me on a beautiful white flower there was the King of the spirits of the flowers already there. Naturally we fell in love and lived happily ever after. Dress suggestions: Old fashioned, delicate long dress. Braid you hair and wear flowers in it. Speak with a tiny voice.

Cleopatra (from Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare) – I am queen of that fair country Egypt. O! my oblivion is very Antony (Marc Antony), and I am all forgotten. He married Octavia, Caesar’s sister to please Caesar. My anger at hearing this, was such that it would “melt Egypt into Nile!” Dress suggestions: Wear loosely draped material to form a toga. Make your face white with powder. You may like to draw Egyptian symbols or pyramids and the like on your clothes.

Pinocchio (Pinocchio by Carlo Lorenzini/Carlo Collodi) When I was a puppet I lied a lot, but the Good Fairy taught me not to and to be good. ‘How stupid I was as a puppet. And how glad I am to be a real live boy.’ When I lied my nose became so long I ‘could not move without banging it against the walls or door.’ Geppetto sold his coat to buy me a spelling book for school. I sold it to go to the puppet theatre. Then I saved a puppet from being burnt by the showman and the showman gave me coins for my father. Dress suggestions: A red jacket with a white frill-necked shirt. Make a pencil nose out of cardboard.

The Monster (Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley) –  But even though Frankenstein had spent so much time and effort creating me, he found me so horrible, he ran in revolt. I reeked of the dead that had been used to create me. Dress suggestions: Wear clothes that look stitched together and draw some stitches on your brow.

Robin Hood (Robin Hood by various authors) I am a wealthy man who has been forced to become a thief. I steal from the rich and give to the poor. The poor of England were being asked for too many taxes. The taxes were required to fund various political battles overseas. I simply gave back to the poor the money that they had had unfairly taken away from them in the first place. Dress suggestions: Dress in period clothes, a cape and a mask.

Rapunzel (Rapunzel by The Brothers Grimm) I have magnificent long hair, fine as spun gold, and I unfastened my braided tresses, wound them round one of the hooks of the window above, and then my hair fell twenty ells down, and my rescuer climbed up by it. Dress suggestion: Old-fashioned clothes and a golden-haired wig braided.

Oliver Twist (from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens) At the workhouse, I lived on “the smallest portion of the weakest food possible.” Later I went to London. The people I lodged with turned out to be none other than a gang of thieves, but I did not realize it till later. Dress suggestions: Dress as a pauper with lots of holes in your clothes and grime. A bit of soot on your face would not go astray.