Childhood and Nineteenth-Century American Theatre

Although unknown now, the Marsh Troupe of Juvenile Comedians toured the world to rapturous audiences in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. Starting off in Troy, NY, the company ventured as far as Australia, New Zealand, and Tahiti, performed everything from Shakespeare to slapstick comedy to complex dance routines, and comprised up to forty boys and girls from the ages of five to eighteen. While they were never big stars, they were ubiquitous: hard-working journeyman actors managed by the troupe’s founder, Robert G. Marsh. Shauna Vey’s meticulously researched book opens up the world of the BOOK Marsh Troupe for us. Melding social and cultural history, she investigates the working conditions of child actors and the larger context of cultural assumptions about and understandings of childhood as a phenomenon. Providing both close analysis of three of the leading performers in the troupe—Mary Marsh, Georgie Marsh, and Louise Arnot—she intertwines biographical details with an exploration of how these children fit into the personae available to young actors.

Archaeology · Art · Art history · Comedy · Context (archaeology) · Dance · Juvenile · Literature · Marsh · Phenomenon · Sociology · Ecology · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · History · Literature: history, themes, analysis · Philosophy