ZARZUELA, CHILDHOOD, AND THEATER DURING THE SECOND HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY IN MURCIA (SPAIN)

During the nineteenth century, zarzuelas performed by child actors were a popular and widespread phenomenon in Spain. In some cases, children's companies were created in their home cities as initiatives from a school, religious institution, or recreational society. However, in other cases, children's companies specializing in zarzuela offered performances in professional circuits on broader tours throughout the Iberian Peninsula. Unlike the local companies, these groups performed in large theaters with a repertoire of zarzuelas comparable to professional adult companies. In the case of Murcia, the overwhelming successes of these groups generated intense controversy in the press about the relevance of submitting children to nighttime work, long rehearsals, and continuous travel without a stable home. This work intends to analyze, by means of the press, the interpretive contexts and the characteristics of children's companies performing in the Region of Murcia during the second half of the nineteenth century, the repertoire they performed, and the journalistic debates that arose concerning the exploitation of child labor in the field of theater.