King's Theatre Pantomime Beauty she then appeared in Cinderella in 2008, Aladdin in 2009, and again as Nanny Begood in 2011, she created the role of Mrs McConkey in Cinderella in 2012 and most recently appeared as The Slave of The Ring in Aladdin in 2013. After Kelly's death in 2010, both Gavin Mitchell and Des Clarke have taken on the lead comic role a Buttons style character. Emulating his infamous 'Hiya pals' into their own versions of 'Hiya gang' and compiling their own skits whilst still paying homage to Kelly. The 2014/2015 Season marks 50 years since the first pantomime at the
Pantomime break between the two acts during which the harlequinade's zany comic business was performed. The theatre historian David Mayer explains the use of the "batte" or slapstick and the transformation scene that led to the harlequinade: Pantomime gradually became more topical and comic, often involving spectacular and elaborate theatrical effects as far as possible. Colley Cibber, David Garrick and others competed with Rich and produced their own pantomimes, and pantomime continued to grow in popularity. By the early 1800s, the pantomime's classical stories were often supplanted by stories adapted from European fairy tales, fables, folk tales, classic English literature or