Origins, Influences, and Developments in Quick-Change and Protean Acting in British Popular Entertainment, 1800–1930

Abstract

This article explores the historical antecedents and later developments of the ‘quick-change’ or so-called ‘protean’ performance genres enacted on the British stage by male and female artists of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Foundational in intent and chronological in approach, it foregrounds previously unknown or neglected performers, especially (though not exclusively) from Britain, whose respective contributions to these genres have seldom been recognized. Overall, the research highlights the rich complexity of these marginalized yet sophisticated performance practices that have been critically ignored within theatre historiography but which are still alive today.