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 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.

Principal Works

The plays below were produced at Drury Lane Theatre unless otherwise stated. The dates given are of first known performance.

• Love's Last Shift (Comedy, 1696)
• Woman's Wit (Comedy, 1697)
• Xerxes (Tragedy, Lincoln's Inn Fields, 1699)
• Love Makes a Man (Comedy, 1701)
• The School Boy (Comedy, 26th October 1702)
• She Would and She would Not (Comedy, 26th November 1702)
• The Careless Husband (Comedy, 7th December, 1704)
• Perolla and Izadora (Tragedy, 3rd December, 1705)
• The Comical Lovers (Comedy, Haymarket, 4th February, 1707)
• The Double Gallant (Comedy, Haymarket, 1st November, 1707)
• The Lady's Last Stake (Comedy, Haymarket, 13th December 1707)
• The Rival Fools (Comedy, 11th January, 1709)
• The Rival Queans (Comical-Tragedy, Haymarket, 29th June 1710)
• Ximena (Tragedy, 28th November, 1712)
• Venus and Adonis (Masque, 1715)
• Bulls and Bears (Farce, 1st December, 1715)
• The Refusal (Comedy, 14th February, 1721)
• Cæsar in Egypt (Tragedy, 9th December, 1724)
• The Provoked Husband (with Vanbrugh, comedy, 10th January 1728)
• Love in a Riddle (Pastoral, 7th January, 1729)
• Damon and Phillida (Pastoral Farce, Haymarket, 1729)

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.

References

• Cibber, Colley (first published 1740, Everyman's Library ed. 1976). An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber. London: J. M. Dent & Sons LTD.

• Highfill, Philip Jr, Burnim, Kalman A., and Langhans, Edward (1973–93). Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660–1800. 16 volumes. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.

Preceded by: Laurence Eusden

British Poet Laureate

Succeeded by: William Whitehead