Children and Theatre in Victorian Britain

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 9
List of Illustrations......Page 11
Acknowledgements......Page 12
Introduction: The Child on the Victorian Stage......Page 14
The Appeal of the Victorian Child Performer......Page 22
The Scope of this Study......Page 30
1 Training Juvenile Actors......Page 34
Voice......Page 35
Movement......Page 40
Ballet......Page 45
Accidents and Traps......Page 51
2 Looking-Glass Children: The Performing Child as Erotic Subject......Page 56
Two Child-Lovers: Lewis Carroll and Ernest Dowson......Page 62
Marie Wilton’s Pearls......Page 75
Constance Gilchrist: Model, Muse, Aristocrat......Page 79
3 Pastorals and Primitives: Child Actors in Arcadia......Page 83
Miniatures and Little People......Page 90
Choreography and Costume......Page 95
Children’s Pantomimes Little Goody Two-Shoes, Adelphi (1876)......Page 99
D’Oyly Carte, The Children’s Pinafore (1879)and Pirates of Penzance (1884)......Page 106
Alice in Wonderland......Page 114
Savages and Mimics......Page 122
Et In Arcadia Ego: The Spectacle of the Dying Child......Page 138
4 Pantomime: An Audience of Children......Page 151
The Climbing Boy: Sweeps, Actors, and the Visibility of the Working Child......Page 161
Coming into View: Theatre Children and Charities in the 1870s......Page 169
Legislation: The Children’s Dangerous Performances Bill, 1879......Page 173
Temperance and the Victoria Coffee Music-Hall:Catering for a Juvenile Audience......Page 182
The 1880s: A Decade of Debate......Page 186
6 Theatre Children and the School Boards......Page 191
7 Vigilance and Virtue......Page 211
8 Theatre and Cruelty......Page 233
9 Conclusion: Dressing Up......Page 247
Appendix A: Child Actors in Lewis Carroll’s Diaries and Letters......Page 264
Appendix B: National Vigilance Association, Regulations for Employment of Children in Theatres, 1889......Page 270
Notes......Page 272
Select Bibliography......Page 300
Index......Page 310