An informative and interesting read. Would recommend. Four Stars.

"Life on the Victorian Stage" looked at newspaper coverage and court case records regarding actors, actresses, and theatre-related disputes in Victorian (1837-1902) England. Many of the cases were from the 1880s and 90s, partly because of better communication about incidents that happened outside of Britain. The author also talked about changes in newspaper coverage, communication technology, and laws that impacted what was reported.

The book initially looked at court cases involving things like licensing theatres, libel against actors/actresses, bankruptcy, and breach of (acting) contracts. The author then relayed stories involving fan letters, stalkers, threats by audience members to make noise and ruin a performance, violence or theft in and outside of the theatre, charges of prostitution occurring at a theatre, and murder of or by actors. He then talked about the personal lives of the actors and actresses: sex, seduction, breach of promise (to marry) cases, child support cases, marriages, divorce, bigamy, deaths, and theatre disasters (like fire).

I found some of these sections a little repetitive as the cases cited were rather similar. Other sections were more varied or contained more information, which made them more interesting to read. Overall, though, it was an interesting book.

This is a useful reference book for those studying the Victorian stage, but it wasn't the type of book one reads for enjoyment.

I received this free ebook from Net Galley in return for an honest review.