Knowra Colley Cibber Colley Cibber Colley Cibber (1671–1757) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager, and poet laureate. His comic plays, stage career, and memoir made him a prominent and controversial figure in eighteenth-century British theatre.
Alexander Pope : Alexander Pope was an English poet and satirist whose works include The Dunciad. Pope made Cibber the unlikely hero of The Dunciad’s revised, notorious satire.
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane : The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a London theatre with a history dating to the seventeenth century. It was the principal venue of Cibber’s acting, playwriting, and management.
Love's Last Shift : Love's Last Shift is a 1696 comedy by Colley Cibber about a rake reclaimed by his virtuous wife. This early hit established Cibber as a playwright and supplied a famous role for his acting.
Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom : The Poet Laureate is an official poet appointed by the British monarch to mark significant national occasions. Cibber’s appointment in 1730 made a theatre professional the crown’s national poet.
Richard Steele : Richard Steele was an Anglo-Irish writer, politician, and co-founder of The Spectator. Steele’s essays and theatrical ventures intersected with Cibber’s London stage career.
Theatre Royal, Covent Garden : The Theatre Royal, Covent Garden is a London performing-arts venue founded in the early eighteenth century. Its company became Drury Lane’s major rival during Cibber’s management.
The Relapse : The Relapse is a 1696 comedy by John Vanbrugh that continues the story of characters from Love's Last Shift. Vanbrugh’s sequel answered Cibber’s play with a sharper, more irreverent version of its characters.
The Dunciad : The Dunciad is Alexander Pope’s mock-epic poem satirizing literary dullness and cultural decline. Pope’s attack on Cibber turned the laureate into the poem’s central emblem of duncehood.
John Vanbrugh : John Vanbrugh was an English playwright and architect, known for comedies of manners and Baroque country houses. Vanbrugh’s partnership in managing Drury Lane connected him to Cibber’s theatre work.
Patent theatres : Patent theatres were London playhouses licensed by royal patents to present spoken drama. Their licensing system constrained the theatrical companies in which Cibber worked.
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