The cult of the child performer was a significant emergence of the Victorian age. Nurtured by growing mass media, the commodification of these children extended beyond the stage itself into merchandising and celebrity. Victorian theatre children found themselves not merely baubles in a spectacle, but essential ingredients of Victorian entertainment. This centre-staging was echoed in the political realm: Lewis Carroll, Augustus Harris and Millicent Fawcett stood at the forefront of a fierce public debate between a Victorian public impassioned by juvenile display and social reformers determined to stamp out exploitation. This is the first major study of children in Victorian theatre. It exposes contradictions between Victorian conceptions of childhood and fashions in theatrical taste. Forgotten scripts are rediscovered, while new light is shed on familiar texts such as Alice in Wonderland and Pirates of Penzance. At the centre are the child actors, the social, political and artistic context of their working lives, and their developing professionalism.