Poor urban youth and popular theatricals: the case of late-19th century Australia

In 1891, a group of Australian politicians interviewed Charles Healy, a twelve year-old newspaper seller who worked in Sydney, as part of an inquiry into child poverty. Healy told them that his widowed mother beat him unless he brought home nine shillings a week from his earnings on the streets. Since he worked long hours to collect this amount and received little of it for his own use, he had scant opportunity to enjoy entertainment or leisure of any kind. Having said this, Healy spoke dreamily of one evening when a rich man gave him and a friend a sovereign-a whole twenty shillings-for minding his horse. After setting most of this aside to give to their mothers, he and this friend went directly to Sydney's Her Majesty's Theatre and spent what was left on a play.1 [extract