decrease from the dominance of the breeches role in Victorian pantomime. Although existing scholarship addresses the demise of the cross-dressed role in contemporary pantomime, little focus has been afforded to new interpretations of the role and the ways producers, writers and performers have re-distributed its characteristics to other stock pantomime characters. This paper will explore the changing face of the genre’s stock roles, focusing primarily on the pantomime convention of cross-dressing and the Principal Boy and Dame, two characters to have experienced the greatest evolution since Victorian pantomime. Key pantomime performers such as John Barrowman, Danny La Rue and Julian Clary will be addressed as this paper investigates how celebrity and performer sexuality have impacted and influenced the genre. Roots and routes of influence will be plotted and historical lineage traced as I seek to establish how new interpretations of ‘traditional’ stock roles are created. I will argue that through the repetition and replication of practices and conventions, ‘new’ stock forms become an ‘accepted’ and anticipated part of the genre. Simon Sladen is Assistant Curator, Modern and Contemporary Performance at the Victoria and Albert Museum. His research interests include modern British pantomime, its evolution since 1945 and the genre’s use of celebrity. He is Curator of the National Database of Pantomime Performance and Founder / Co-ordinator of National Panto Day.
Working Groups Session 4 & Business Meeting Friday 5th September 2.00-3.30pm Caroline Astell-Burt The Pressing of Flesh - Otome Bunraku and Training for the Puppeteer today In 1919 marking the death of Kaspar the folk Puppet. Hugo Ball’s nonsense Dada funeral ovation opened puppetry up to the whole world of the arts no longer limiting it to the families of folk puppetry passing their skills down from father to son and tied into the repertoire. 163