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Information about Theophilus Cibber

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Theophilus Cibber in the role of Ancient Pistol.
Theophilus Cibber (November 26, 1703 - 1758) was an English actor, playwright, author, and son of the actor-manager Colley Cibber.

Theophilus Cibber began acting in the Drury Lane Theatre in 1721. In 1727, Alexander Pope satirized Theophilus Cibber in his Dunciad as a youth who "thrusts his person full into your face" (III 132). On the stage, he was famous for playing Pistol in Henry IV, part 2 and some of the comic roles his father had played when younger, but his private life later led Theophilus into bad reputation and scandal. He died in a shipwreck while bound for Ireland and a season in Dublin.

Adultery case scandal

Cibber was married to the singer and actress Susannah Maria Arne, and both were members of the Drury Lane theatre company managed by Cibber's father. In 1737-38 the couple were involved in a notorious lawsuit which drew public attention to the problem of connivance between husband and wife in a wife's adultery. The Cibbers had established a ménage à trois with William Sloper, their lodger, who paid for the rent and full maintenance for all three. Becoming greedy, Cibber sued the lodger for £5,000 damages for criminal conversation, which he described as threatening "his peace of mind, his happiness, and his hopes of posterity". There were witnesses, however, and Sloper's defence counsel demolished Cibber's case: "He takes his money, lets him maintain his family, resigns his wife to him, and then comes to court for justice, for reparation in damages." Counsel concluded that "there is no denomination in coin small enough to give in damages" and the jury concurred, awarding Cibber a nominal £10.

Next year, when his wife, her lover and their child had all disappeared, Cibber brought an action against the lodger for £10,000 for "detaining" his wife. This time he was awarded £500. Susannah went to Ireland and a concert season with Handel while the scandal died down, but later returned to have a successful career at Drury Lane, working with David Garrick and becoming famous as a tragic actress.

Authorship

Theophilus and Susannah authored some plays which are universally described as being of no great merit. They were published in a modern edition by David Mann in 1981.

Theophilus Cibber appears as the author on the title pages of two other books. He is obviously not the real author of the An Apology for the Life of Mr. T[heophilus] C[ibber], Comedian: Being a Proper Sequel to The Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber, Comedian, with an Historical View of the Stage to the Present Year / Supposed to be Written by Himself in the Stile and Manner of the Poet Laureate, which is an anonymous attack patterned on Colley Cibber's succès scandale autobiography An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber, Comedian. His authorship of Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland, to the Time of Dean Swift (1753) is also disputed, most of the text being lifted from earlier works by Gerard Langbaine and Giles Jacob.

References

  • Anon. (Theophilus Cibber on the title page) (1740). An Apology for the Life of Mr. T[heophilus] C[ibber], Comedian: Being a Proper Sequel to The Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber, Comedian, with an Historical View of the Stage to the Present Year / Supposed to be Written by Himself in the Stile and Manner of the Poet Laureate. London: Printed for J. Mechell.
  • Cibber, Theophilus (putatively). Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland, to the Time of Dean Swift. London.
  • Mann, David (ed.) (1981). The plays of Theophilus and Susannah Cibber. New York : Garland Pub.
  • Stone, Lawrence (1990). Road to Divorce:England 1530–1987. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Truelove, F. (1739). The Comforts of Matrimony, Exemplified in the Memorable Case and Tryal Lately Brought by T. C. against W. S. Esq. for Criminal Conversation with the Plaintiff's Wife. London.

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actor, actress, or player (see terminology) is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity.
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Colley Cibber (6 November, 1671 – November 12, 1757) was an English playwright, actor, and Poet Laureate. His status as the first in a long line of actor-managers established his importance in theater history, and his colorful memoir (
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Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope (c.1727), an English poet best known for his Essay on Criticism, Rape of the Lock and The Dunciad
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The Dunciad is a landmark literary satire by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times. The first version (the "three book" Dunciad) was published in 1728.
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Henry IV, Part 2 is a history play by William Shakespeare. It is the third part of a tetralogy; it is preceded by Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1 and succeeded by Henry V.
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Susannah Maria Arne, also known as Susanna Maria Cibber (1714 – 1766) was a celebrated English singer and actress, the sister of the composer, Thomas Arne.

She was born in London, and made her debut in her brother's first opera, Rosamund, in 1733.
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This article is about the street in London; Drury Lane is also the name of a well-known theatre on that street and of a fictional detective created by Ellery Queen writing as Barnaby Ross.

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lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court in which the party commencing the action, the plaintiff, seeks a legal remedy. One or more defendants are required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint.
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Adultery is voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and one who is not his or her spouse. Some legal jurisdictions have defined it as "crime against marriage",[1] opposed to infidelity.
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George Frideric Handel (Friday 23 February 1685 – Saturday 14 April 1759) was a German-born British Baroque composer who was a leading composer of concerti grossi, operas and oratorios.
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David Garrick born (19 February 1717 in Hereford – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson.
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In a figurative sense a tragedy (from Classical Greek τραγωδία, "song for the goat", see below) is any event with a sad and unfortunate outcome, but the term also applies specifically in Western culture to a form of drama defined by
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Giles Jacob (baptised November 22, 1686 — May 8, 1744) was a British legal writer and literary critic who figures as one of the dunces in Alexander Pope's 1728 Dunciad.
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