Charlotte : being a true account of an actress's flamboyant adventures in eighteenth-century London's wild and wicked theatrical world / Kathryn Shevelow.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shevelow, Kathryn, 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Charke, Charlotte, 1713-1760.

Charke, Charlotte.

Actors--Great Britain--Biography.

Actors.

Great Britain.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xii, 433 pages : illustrations, music ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : H. Holt, 2005.

Summary:

A woman of rare talents and high spirits, Charlotte Charke (1713-1760) was an actress who delighted in scandalizing proper society-whenever she could. Her London was a stage writ large where bejeweled ladies rode in carriages past prostitutes and pickpockets, crowds munched ginger-bread while watching hangings, and Mrs. Mapp the bonesetter realigned kneecaps for fascinated crowds. On street corners, fire-eaters, contortionists, tumblers, and dancing dogs competed for attention. Yet even among the spectacles of her stylish, savage metropolis, Charlotte stood out as a self-described "Nonpareil of the Age." Every day of her life was a grand performance.

The daughter of Colley Cibber, a brilliant comic actor famous for foppery, Charlotte was unconventional-even by the standards of her theatrical family. She raised eyebrows with her disdain for needlework and her taste for guns, but when she stepped on stage, none of it mattered. Charlotte seemed destined for greatness. But she would rebel. After making her reputation by playing men, she began dressing in breeches offstage as well. When her father and family disowned her, her life became a picaresque adventure extending from the pinnacles of posh London to its dangerous depths.

Kathryn Shevelow captures Charlotte-artist, survivor, mother, wife, and, ultimately, husband, too-in all her guises, from her time among the dueling divas of the glamorous Drury Lane Theatre to her trials as a strolling player and puppeteer, to her comeback as the author of My Unaccountable Life, one of the first autobiographies ever written by a woman. Set against the culture and history of eighteenth-century London-where Hogarth painted, Fielding's satires mocked the prime minister, and The Beggar's Opera drew raves-Charlotte is a tale of pluck and perseverance, enlivened endlessly by the wit, courage, and creativity of its ever-surprising heroine.

Contents:

Introduction: Dress Rehearsal 9

1 Cibbers (1660-1712) 23

2 The Impertinent Intruder (1712-13) 44

3 A Passionate Fondness for a Periwig (1717-20) 51

4 Educating Charlotte (1720-27) 63

5 Laureate (1720-30) 78

6 The Provoked Wife (1729-30) 95

7 Chambermaids and Pretty Men (1731-32) 113

8 Show, show, show, show! (1732) 126

9 Stormy Weather (1732-33) 140

10 Mutiny (1733) 156

11 Wearing the Breeches (1733-34) 167

12 Mad Company (1734-35) 181

13 Cordelia; or, The Art of Management (1735-36) 198

14 On the Edge (1736) 215

15 Bad Acts (1737) 232

16 Punch's Theatre (1737-38) 251

17 Hard Times (1738-41) 268

18 Down and Out in London (1741-44) 285

19 A Mind to Get Money (1742-46) 303

20 A Little, Dirty Kind of War (1746-53) 319

21 The Female Husband (1752-54) 333

22 The Prodigal Daughter (1755-56) 347

23 Curtain Calls (1757-60) 365.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [407]-414) and index.

ISBN:

0805073140

OCLC:

56799033

Publisher Number:

9780805073140

Online:

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