Jane Cibber

Jane Cibber (née Johnson; 1704/1706 — 1733) was a British stage actress.^[1]

Life

She was born in 1704 or 1706 as Jane Johnson.^[2]

Her guardian was the writer Richard Savage. Originally appearing at Drury Lane Theatre as Jane Johnson, in 1725 she married Theophilus Cibber the son of actor-manager Colley Cibber.^[3] She had four children with him while continuing to act on the stage in a mixture of comedies and tragedies. When Elizabeth Younger defected to work for the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre company, she took over the roles she had been playing.^[3] In 1731, she played the title role in Caelia by Charles Johnson.^{[citation needed]}

She died after childbirth in 1733. Her husband said he would never remarry. He did in 1734.^[2]

Selected roles

• Polyxena in Hecuba by Richard West (1726)
• Jenny in The Provoked Husband (1728)
• Ianthe in Love in a Riddle (1729)
• Cleone in Timoleon by Benjamin Martyn (1730)
• Maria in The London Merchant (1731)
• Caelia in Caelia (1732)
• Clarissa in The Modish Couple (1732)
• Lady Charlotte Gaywit in The Modern Husband by Henry Fielding (1732)

References

1. The Routledge Anthology of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Drama, pg. XIII
2. "Cibber, Theophilus (1703–1758), actor and playwright". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/5418. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 12 March 2021. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
3. Koon p. 109

Bibliography

• Highfill, Philip H, Burnim, Kalman A. & Langhans, Edward A. A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers, and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800: Garrick to Gyngell. SIU Press, 1978.
• Koon, Helene. Colley Cibber: A Biography. University Press of Kentucky, 2014.
• Straub, Kristina, G. Anderson, Misty and O'Quinn, Daniel . The Routledge Anthology of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Drama. Taylor & Francis, 2017.