Colley Cibber Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Colley Cibber (1671-1757) was a British actor-manager, dramatist and Poet Laureate of Britain.
Cibber was born in London, his father being Caius Gabriel Cibber, a Danish sculptor living in England. He began his career as an actor at Drury Lane Theatre in 1690, with little success for several years. "The first thing that enters into the head of a young actor", wrote Cibber in his autobiography half a century later, "is that of being a heroe. In this ambition I was soon snubb'd, by the insufficiency of my voice; to which might be added, an uninformed meagre person (tho' then not ill made) with a dismal pale complexion. Under these disadvantages, I had but a melancholy prospect of ever playing a lover, with Mrs. Bracegirdle, which I had flatter'd my hopes that my youth might one day have recommended me to." Thwarted in his hopes for heroic parts and love scenes, he scored a double triumph with his first play, Love's Last Shift, or Virtue Rewarded (1696), in which he had written the fop part of Sir Novelty Fashion for himself to perform. The success of the play and of his own performance made his name as both playwright and comedy actor. Later in life, he tailored some plays to fit his continuing hankering after playing "a heroe", but his performances of such parts never pleased audiences, which preferred to see him typecast as an extravagantly affected fop. His popular adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard III was the standard version from 1700 until the mid-Victorian era and featured Richard's immortal line: "Off with his head! So much for Buckhingham!" In 1710, he became manager of the Drury Lane theatre. In 1730, he was made Poet Laureate, an appointment which attracted widespread scorn particularly from Alexander Pope who despised Cibber's altered Shakespeare.Cibber's autobiography, An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber, which is full of anecdotes about his time in the theatre, is an invaluable source for the theatre history of the Restoration and early eighteenth century period. Because he worked with many actors from the early days of Restoration theatre, such as Thomas Betterton and Elizabeth Barry (albeit at the end of their careers) and lived to see the ultra-modern David Garrick perform, he is a fascinating bridge between a mannered and a more naturalistic style of performance.
Cibber had a large number of children, but only two seem to have survived him, and these barely. His son, Theophilus Cibber, married the singer Susannah Maria Arne (sister of composer Thomas Arne). His daughter Charlotte Charke became a celebrated cross-dresser.
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Cibber as Dunce
Colley Cibber is second among a group known as "the Dunces." These writers were the targets of satire by the various Tory satirists of the Augustan era. John Dennis, theater critic, was the first marked out by Alexander Pope, and he was followed by Ambrose Philips, William Wotton the critic, Richard Bently the classicist, Lewis Theobald the editor, and many others. Today, these figures are remembered more as the victims of satire than as authors in their own right, but Cibber stands above the rest in two respects.
First, unlike other "dunces," Cibber's work has had lasting importance. As a dramatist and historian of the theater Cibber's account in the Apology is of paramount value. Secondly, also unlike the other dunces, Colley Cibber remained a target of Tory satirists for more than one generation. As for why he was such a favored satirical victim, two things set Cibber up for scorn. First, his Apology offended many with its semblance of vainglory. Second, his winning the post of Poet Laureate seemed to the other authors to be a political appointment and without worthiness. At a time with Alexander Pope, John Gay, James Thomson, Ambrose Philips, and Edward Young all in their prime, the selection of Colley Cibber seemed outlandish. That he was selected immediately after a change in the government from Tory to Whig was also noticeable. Pope was mortified by the elevation of Cibber, but so, of course, were all the other writers who considered Cibber far less than the best writer, and the fact that he was not primarily a poet and had not proven himself as a poet only made matters worse.
In his Apology, Cibber speaks daringly in the first person and in his own praise. Although the major figures of the day were jealous of their fame, self-promotion of such an overt sort was shocking, and Cibber offended Christian humility as well as gentlemanly modesty by speaking of himself. Furthermore, Cibber's autobiography tells anecdotes not entirely flattering to his friends. One anecdote concerns Alexander Pope in a brothel and Cibber "saving the poetry of the isle" by preventing Pope from consummating a sexual act with a prostitute. Whether Pope's rage was kindled by the lack of humility or the betrayal of friendship in that anecdote, Pope was enraged, and he made Cibber the ultimate hero of his The Dunciad. Once Pope struck, Cibber became an easy target for future satirists. Henry Fielding, who was an actual Justice of the Peace, issued a bench warrant (under the name of Captain Hercules Vinegar) for the arrest of Colley Cibber on a charge of "murder" of "the English language."
The Tory wits were so successful in their satire of Cibber that he has come down to the modern age almost only as a Dunce, and his works are only slowly gaining a fresh assessment by scholars.
The plays below were produced at Drury Lane Theatre unless otherwise stated. The dates given are of first known performance.
Principal Works
Cibber also adapted Shakespeare's Richard III (1700), King John (1745) as 'Papal Tyranny in the Reign of King John' and Moliere's Tartuffe as 'The Nonjuror' in 1717.
| Preceded by: Laurence Eusden | British Poet Laureate | Succeeded by: William Whitehead |
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