Dyan Colclough. Child Labor in the British Victorian Entertainment Industry, 1875–1914

Dyan Colclough’s book Child Labor in the British Victorian Entertainment Industry, 1875–1914 joins the series Palgrave Studies in Theater and Performance History, edited by Don B. Wilmeth, and it focuses on the working conditions of children in the Victorian theater. This group of juveniles was the last to have its labor regulated by legislation in Britain during the nineteenth century. Even when the oversight was finally addressed, it came as something of an afterthought in the shape of a contentious clause to the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act of 1889. Colclough amasses evidence for the central importance of children as performers in the entertainment industry during this era by carefully interrogating the established historical sources and tenaciously pursuing new material. Her findings afford an enhanced understanding of the cultural forces that competed for ownership of the stage child at this time, and she argues persuasively that amid the clash of argument and counterargument, the needs, perspectives, and interests of the performing child itself were consistently overlooked.

Argument (complex analysis) · Entertainment · Entertainment industry · Legislation · Media studies · Political science · Sociology · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Law