Charlotte Charke

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Standard Name: Charke, Charlotte
Birth Name: Charlotte Cibber
Married Name: Charlotte Charke
Self-constructed Name: Mr Brown
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.
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.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Friends, Associates Laetitia Pilkington
LP 's non-respectable situation as well as, it seems, her disposition, made it hard for her to form friendships with women. She always retained her devotion to Constantia Grierson , before and after the latter's...
Occupation Henry Fielding
Having had his first play produced in February 1728 and gone on to achieve some success in the difficult metier of London playwright, HF became manager of the Little Theatre in the Haymarketbecause that...
Textual Production Maureen Duffy
In her third novel, The Microcosm, MD drew on Charlotte Charke 's Narrative of her own life, quoting, paraphrasing, and adapting.
British Books in Print. J. Whitaker and Sons, 1874–1987.
1967
Duffy, Maureen. The Microcosm. Virago, 1989.
prelims
Textual Production Helen Waddell
HW provided (anonymously) the introduction to a Constable reprint of A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke , Daughter of Colley Cibber, one in a series they were issuing of rediscovered works...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text Helen Waddell
Her four-page summary of Charke 's life is sympathetic and appropriately headlong in tone. Only at the end does she slide simultaneously into the pitying and the dismissive. Ungrammatical, insanely inconsequent, braggart and fantastic, the...

Timeline

June 1733: John Laguerre painted The Stage Mutiny, which...

Building item

June 1733

John Laguerre painted The Stage Mutiny, which shows Theophilus Cibber , Charlotte Charke , and others, confronting John Highmore , then manager of Drury Lane .
Folkenflik, Robert. “Charlotte Charke: Images and Afterimages”. Introducing Charlotte Charke: Actress, Author, Enigma, edited by Philip E. Baruth, University of Illinois Press, 1998, pp. 137-61.
151-3

7 April 1740: Colley Cibber, actor-manager and father of...

Writing climate item

7 April 1740

Colley Cibber , actor-manager and father of Charlotte Charke , published his autobiography, An Apology for the Life of Mr Colley Cibber, Comedian.
Ashley, Leonard R. N. Colley Cibber. Twayne, 1965.
16

1756: Theophilus Cibber, brother of Charlotte Charke,...

Building item

1756

Theophilus Cibber , brother of Charlotte Charke , published Dissertations on Theatrical Subjects (also known as Two Dissertations on the Theatres), a plea against the licensed-theatre monopoly.
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.
29

1827: Publishers Hunt and Clarke reprinted both...

Women writers item

1827

Publishers Hunt and Clarke reprinted both Charlotte Charke and Mary Robinson in its series entitled Autobiography. A Collection of the Most Instructive and Amusing Lives ever published.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.
Burmester, James et al. English Books. James Burmester Rare Books, 1985–2024, Numbered catalogues.
49 (II): 37

Texts

Charke, Charlotte. A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke. W. Reeve, 1755.
Charke, Charlotte, and Leonard R. N. Ashley. A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke. Scholars’ Facsimiles and Reprints, 1969.
Waddell, Helen, and Charlotte Charke. “Editorial Note to the New Edition”. A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke, Constable, 1929, pp. 7-10.
Ashley, Leonard R. N., and Charlotte Charke. “Introduction”. A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke, Scholars’ Facsimiles and Reprints, 1969, p. vii - xxiv.
Charke, Charlotte. The Art of Management; or, Tragedy Expell’d. W. Rayner, 1735.
Charke, Charlotte. The History of Charley and Patty; or, The Friendly Strangers. Bailey, 1760.
Charke, Charlotte. The History of Henry Dumont, esq. and Miss Charlotte Evelyn. H. Slater, 1756.
Charke, Charlotte. The Lover’s Treat; or, Unnatural Hatred. Bailey’s Printing Office, 1758.
Charke, Charlotte. The Mercer; or, Fatal Extravagance. Bailey.
Morgan, Fidelis, and Charlotte Charke. The Well-Known Troublemaker: A Life of Charlotte Charke. Faber and Faber, 1988.