Quick-change is a performance art in which a performer changes quickly within a split second from one costume into another costume in front of the audience. Choreography and dance are usally combined into the performance to make the act more spectacular.

 

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The art of Quick Change is several hundred years old and reaches back as far as the 15th century. The Japanese kabuki theater started with crude performances by a shrine dancer Akuna in the year 1603, although the use of Quick Change was most probably not added until after 1629 when women were banned from performing kabuki.

 

The Italian actor and mime Leopold Fragile (1867-1936) the greatest quick-change artist of his day used quick-changes on stage and in front of the camera from 1895 to 1922. There still exist several minutes of these films. He was the first artist to transform this surprising skill into a full evening show. At the top of his career he was performing 60 characters in the same show.

Fragile made the costume and hairpiece changes out of view of the audience in three seconds with the help of several assistants.

He was very popular like Houdini — he is the forefather of Quick Change (but not the first).

 

Quick Change was very popular in the 20th century right up until the twenties. After the outbreak of cinema this art fell silent.

 

One of the world's classic exponents of quick change artistry is the Italian actor and performer Arturo Brachetti. The Guinness Book of Records of 2006 lists him as the fastest in the world. In 2000 he was awarded the Prix Moliere, the highest accolade in French theatre (Tony Award) for «The man with 1000 faces» where he performs 80 different characters in the two hours show. The show sold-out in Paris for 3 runs in an 1800 seats theatre.

 

Nowdays there are very few internationally acclaimed quick-change artists. The duo Virginia and Franco are proud to be part of this small elite circle of artists and its fascinating world!