Charlotte Charke

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All CC 's works were topical. All except some rather feeble fictions centre on the theatre or on herself; the best-known is her autobiography, 1755. Several of her plays have not survived. Interest in her sexuality and in her life's work of transgressing . . . boundaries
Baruth, Philip E. “Who Is Charlotte Charke?”. Introducing Charlotte Charke: Actress, Author, Enigma, edited by Philip E. Baruth, University of Illinois Press, 1998, pp. 9-62.
10
(compelling though these are) has obscured some of her other qualities as a streetwise, satirical, minority voice.
  • BirthName: Charlotte Cibber
  • Self-constructed: Mr Brown
  • Married: Charke
A painting by Willliam Jones, 1740, of Charlotte Charke playing a "breeches role", the male lead the one-act opera "Damon and Phillida" by her father, Colley Cibber. She is dressed in a pink (men's) jacket and breeches, white stockings, and men's shoes adorned with a buckle. The scene shows Damon reconciled with Phillida (to the left, dressed in blue) with two frustrated, mercenary suitors in the background. Tate Gallery.

Milestones

13 January 1713

Charlotte Cibber (later CC ) was born, the eleventh and last in her family.
Morgan, Fidelis, and Charlotte Charke. The Well-Known Troublemaker: A Life of Charlotte Charke. Faber and Faber, 1988.
214

5 September 1735

CC 's farceThe Carnival; or, Harlequin Blunderer played for her benefit at Lincoln's Inn Fields .
She was entitled to a benefit night each season (as was every member of the company), when she received the night's profits after the theatre's expenses had been paid.
The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.
3: 506

1 March-19 April 1755

CC dated the instalments in which she wrote her Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke.
Charke, Charlotte, and Leonard R. N. Ashley. A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke. Scholars’ Facsimiles and Reprints, 1969.
270

From late April 1755

CC published in instalments A Narrative of her life, which she said she had begun writing about five years earlier.
This kind of serialisation, in a series of pamphlets rather than normal-sized volumes, had been used by the scandal-memoirist Teresia Constantia Phillips .
Morgan, Fidelis, and Charlotte Charke. The Well-Known Troublemaker: A Life of Charlotte Charke. Faber and Faber, 1988.
217
Baruth, Philip E. “Who Is Charlotte Charke?”. Introducing Charlotte Charke: Actress, Author, Enigma, edited by Philip E. Baruth, University of Illinois Press, 1998, pp. 9-62.
11

After 1758

CC published two more undated short novels: The Mercer; or, Fatal Extravagance and The History of Charley and Patty; or, The Friendly Strangers.
Morgan, Fidelis, and Charlotte Charke. The Well-Known Troublemaker: A Life of Charlotte Charke. Faber and Faber, 1988.
218
Baruth, Philip E. “Who Is Charlotte Charke?”. Introducing Charlotte Charke: Actress, Author, Enigma, edited by Philip E. Baruth, University of Illinois Press, 1998, pp. 9-62.
10

16 April 1760

CC died in poverty in London.
The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.
4: 786

Biography

Birth and Family

13 January 1713

Charlotte Cibber (later CC ) was born, the eleventh and last in her family.
Morgan, Fidelis, and Charlotte Charke. The Well-Known Troublemaker: A Life of Charlotte Charke. Faber and Faber, 1988.
214

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