Colley Cibber · aftercurtain

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Caesar in Egypt

Writer · Play · 1724

Caesar in Egypt is a 1724 tragedy by the British writer Colley Cibber. It is inspired by Pierre Corneille's 1642 French play The Death of Pompey about Julius Caesar's intervention in the Egyptian Civil War between Cleopatra and her brother. Cibber also incorporated elements of Plutarch and John Fletcher's The False One. The Drury Lane company invested lots of resources to make it a particularly extravagant production in the traditional style of a Restoration heroic drama. The cast included Barton Booth as Julius Caesar, Robert Wilks as Antony, Theophilus Cibber as Ptolemy, Charles Williams as Decius, John Mills as Photinus, Colley Cibber as Achoreus, John Roberts as First Centurion, John Thurmond as Second Centurion, Mary Porter as Cornelia and Anne Oldfield as Cleopatra. The play was not well-received, its style increasingly regarded by audiences as old-fashioned. This effectively ended Cibber's career as a playwright.

Love Makes a Man

Writer · Play · 1700

Love Makes A Man; Or, The Fop's Fortune is a comedy play by the English writer Colley Cibber written and first performed in 1700, and first published in 1701. It borrows elements from two Jacobean plays The Elder Brother and The Custom of the Country by John Fletcher. It was originally staged at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane with a cast that included Robert Wilks as Carlos, William Bullock as Antonio, Richard Cross as Charino, William Pinkethman as Don Lewis, Colley Cibber as Clodio, Henry Norris as Sancho, Thomas Simpson as Governor, John Mills as Don Duart, Susanna Verbruggen as Louisa, Henrietta Moore as Honoria and Frances Maria Knight as Elvira.

Love in a Riddle

Writer · Play · 1729

Love in a Riddle is a 1729 ballad opera by the British actor-manager Colley Cibber. It was part of a boom in ballad operas inspired by the enormous success of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera the previous year. The original Drury Lane cast included John Mills as Arcas, John Harper as Aegon, Charles Williams as Amyntas, Sarah Thurmond as Iphis, Colley Cibber as Philautus, Benjamin Griffin as Corydon, James Oates as Mopsus, Joe Miller as Cimon, Jane Cibber as Ianthe and Kitty Clive as Phillida. The prologue was spoken by Robert Wilks.

Love's Last Shift

Playwright · Play · 1696 est

Amanda, whose rakish husband Loveless abandoned her for ten years, disguises herself as a wealthy courtesan and lures him to her house. After revealing her identity in the morning, she persuades him to reform; the play also features the fop Sir Novelty Fashion.

Richard III

Adaptation · Play · 1699 est

Cibber reworks Shakespeare’s history of Richard III for a five-act Williamite audience, adding a new opening that shows Henry VI’s murder and making Richard’s rise and fall more violent on stage. Richard courts Lady Anne, imprisons and kills the princes, plots against his rivals, and is haunted by his victims before the Battle of Bosworth, where Richmond defeats and kills him and becomes Henry VII.

She Would and She Would Not

Writer · Play · 1702

She Would and She Would Not is a 1702 comedy play by the English actor-writer Colley Cibber. The original Drury Lane cast included Cibber as Don Manuel, Benjamin Husband as Don Philip, John Mills as Octavio, William Pinkethman as Trappanti, William Bullock as Soto, Susanna Verbruggen as Hypolita, Mary Hook as Rosara, Henrietta Moore as Flora and Frances Maria Knight as Viletta. Incidental music was composed by Jacques Paisible. Cibber dedicated the play to the Duke of Ormonde, attributing the play's success to the delirious public mood following the recent victory at Vigo. The play was revived frequently. In 1800 during a performance at Drury Lane James Hadfield attempted to assassinate George III.

The Careless Husband

Writer · Play · 1704

The Carless Husband is a comedy play by the English writer Colley Cibber. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 7 December 1704. The original cast featured Cibber as Lord Foppington, George Powell as Lord Morelove, Robert Wilks as Sir Charles Easy, Anne Oldfield as Lady Betty Modish, Frances Maria Knight as Lady Easy, Henrietta Moore as Lady Graveairs and Jane Lucas as Mrs Edging. It has been described as Cibber's most successful play, and provided a vehicle for his popular foppish Lord Foppington personae.

The Double Gallant

Writer · Play · 1707

The Double Gallant, or the Sick Lady's Cure is a 1707 comedy play by the British writer Colley Cibber. It was originally performed on 1 November 1707 at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket with a cast that included Benjamin Johnson as Sir Solomon, Barton Booth as Clerimont, Robert Wilks as Careless, Colley Cibber as Atall, William Bowen as Captain Strut, Henry Norris as Sir Squabble Splithair, George Pack as Saunter, William Bullock as Old Wilful, Richard Cross as Sir Harry Atall, Anne Oldfield as Lady Dainty, Letitia Cross as Lady Sadlife, Jane Rogers as Clarinda, Lucretia Bradshaw as Sylvia and Margaret Saunders as Wishwell.

The Non-Juror

Writer · Play · 1717

The Non-Juror is a 1717 comedy play by the British writer Colley Cibber. It is inspired by Molière's 1664 work Tartuffe. The original Drury Lane Theatre cast featured John Mills as Sir John Woodvil, Barton Booth as Colonel Woodvil, Robert Wilks as Hearty, Cibber himself as Doctor Wolf, Thomas Walker as Charles, Mary Porter as Lady Woodvil and Anne Oldfield as Maria. Produced three years after the Hanoverian Succession and two after the outbreak of the 1715 Rebellion, the play was sharply critical of Jacobites and their Tory allies. It mockingly exaggerated the position of those who refused to swear allegiance to George I. Cibber himself played the title role of Doctor Wolf, a nonjuring Church of England clergyman who claims that "a Protestant Church can never be secure, till it has a Popish Prince to defend it". The play was a hit, and George I himself commended Cibber with a reward of two hundred pounds. The anti-Catholic tone of the work offended Alexander Pope, himself a nonjuring Catholic, who lamented "the great success of so damn'd a play". It contributed to the growing rivalry between the two writers. The prologue by Nicholas Rowe contained jibes against Catholics currently buying up property in Urbino, the Italian residence of the Jacobite pretender James III. When it was published in 1718, Cibber dedicated the play to King George. In 1768 a rewritten version The Hypocrite by Isaac Bickerstaffe appeared at Drury Lane. This removed many of the political caricatures of Cibber's play which had by now lost their relevance in the changed context, and the principal character was changed to be a Methodist.

The Provoked Husband

Writer · Play · 1728

The Provoked Husband is a 1728 comedy play by the British writer and actor Colley Cibber, based on a fragment of play written by John Vanbrugh. It is also known by the longer title The Provok'd Husband: or, a Journey to London. Vanbrugh had worked on a projected play A Journey to London for Cibber, a sharp comedy in the Restoration-style. Unfinished at his death in 1726, Vanbrugh left the manuscript to him. In need of a new play for the Drury Lane Theatre where he was a manager, Cibber finished it under a new title The Provoked Husband which echoed one of Vanbrugh's most popular works The Provoked Wife. He reworked it substantially, softening the character of Lady Loverule who was renamed Lady Townly, and adding a more conventional happy ending than Vanbrugh had intended. The original cast included Robert Wilks as Lord Townly, Anne Oldfield as Lady Townly, Mary Porter as Lady Grace, John Mills as Manly, Colley Cibber as Sir Francis Wronghead, Sarah Thurmond as Lady Wronghead, Jane Cibber as Jenny, Joe Miller as Moody and Roger Bridgewater as Count Basset. The play was a huge success and enjoyed a lengthy run at the theatre, boosting the finances of the struggling Drury Lane. It appeared to be the hit of the season, only to be eclipsed by the even more dramatic success of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera which opened three weeks later at the rival Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre. The Provoked Husband was revived frequently over the following century, become a staple part of the repertory in many theatres.

The Refusal

Writer · Play · 1721

Two young woman both have men they wish to marry, but their father has given first refusal to a fop. Together they try and work their way around the obstacle.

The Rival Fools

Writer · Play · 1709

The Rival Fools is a 1709 comedy play by the British writer Colley Cibber. It drew inspiration from the earlier play Wit at Several Weapons. Despite Cibber's previous record of turning out hits, it was not a great success. The original Drury Lane cast featured William Pinkethman as Sir Oliver Outwit, Robert Wilks as Young Outwit, Barton Booth as Cunningham, William Bullock as Sir Gregory Goose, Colley Cibber as Samuel Simpson, George Pack as Sir Threadbare, Theophilus Keene as Priscian, Anne Oldfield as Lucinda, Mary Porter as Mirabel and Elizabeth Willis as Governess.

Woman’s Wit

Playwright · Play · 1697

Longeville tries to reveal that Leonora is unfaithful to her fiancé Lovemore. Leonora turns the accusation back on him, claiming he is plotting to win her himself, and their rival deceptions multiply until she is forced to confess. A separate comic subplot follows the Rakish family.

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