Arturo Brachetti’s Change

One wonders how Arturo Brachetti discovered his gift for changing quickly. Did he find himself tapping his feet in the boys’ changing room whilst moderately-paced peers struggled with their hockey socks? Or did he wake up one morning and yell ‘Mama Mia, I know what the world is missing…’

It is easy to highlight the peculiarity of the skill that saw Brachetti enter The Guinness Book of Records as fastest quick-change artist in 2006 and 2007. Dominic Maxwell at The Times describes this title as ‘on a par with “world’s jauntiest Morris dancer”… Very impressive, no doubt, but can you actually stand a whole evening of the stuff?

Take the word ‘stand’ and replace it with ‘adore’ and the answer is still yes, yes, one hundred times (and costumes) yes.

With a loosely constructed plot for backbone, Arturo – a wide vaudeville grin never far from his face – takes us on a dizzying visual journey. Classic Hollywood, the four seasons (with Van Gogh’s sunflowers as summer), the output of fellow countryman Fellini, and the shadow puppetry that first switched our ever-changing compere onto illusion are all subjects of the 52-year-old’s 90-minute show.

‘I wouldn’t want his laundry bill’ says a ‘60s-style commentator during one vague plot twist but what must have been terribly expensive is the wardrobe itself. He’s Dracula…now…Johnny Rotten…and now…Her Majesty. Imagine this but constantly. Without the extremely impressive – realistic by one turn, diva by another – costumes, our Arturo’s act would have sunk in the credibility stakes.

The Hollywood stuff was particularly impressive. With a few classic characters backed by a few surging orchestral scores, whole worlds came to life. From Bond to King Kong, from Dorothy to Captain Jack Sparrow, it took only a leap inside a hollow wooden box (‘do you like it? I got it from IKEA’) for our showmen to go from one character to another. Gender was absolutely no barrier for the lithe Brachetti who took particular pleasure in wearing nipple tassels on more than one occasion.

Criticism isn’t on my agenda for this review. One could make the point that the plot is as hard to find as a soft drink in Christopher Hitchens’ fridge but the charismatic and brilliant Brachetti is story enough. Whether it’s the anecdotal ability of someone you’ve just met in the pub or Terry Gilliam’s latest film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, it doesn’t matter whether a narrative follows a traditional structure. When there’s enough spectacle and charm, we go away satisfied.

Change runs until Sunday 3 January, 2010, at:

Garrick Theatre
2 Charing Cross Road
Leicester Square
Covent Garden
WC2H 0HH

Box office: 0870 890 1104