Colley Cibber was not well received. In the middle of the play, he whispered to fellow actor Benjamin Victor that he wanted to go home, perhaps realising he was too old for the part and its physical demands. Cibber also essayed tragic parts in plays by Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Dryden and others, but with less success. By the end of his acting career, audiences were being entranced by the innovatively naturalistic acting of the rising star David Garrick, who made his London debut in the title part in a production of Cibber's adaptation of "Richard III" in 1741. He returned to
Colley Cibber play called "Flora, or Hob in the Well", but it is not by Cibber. "Hob, or the Country Wake. A Farce. By Mr. Doggett" was attributed to Cibber by William Chetwood in his "General History of the Stage" (1749), but John Genest in "Some Account of the English Stage" (1832) thought it was by Thomas Doggett. Other plays attributed to Cibber but probably not by him include "Cinna's Conspiracy", performed at Drury Lane on 19 February 1713, and "The Temple of Dullness" of 1745. Colley Cibber Colley Cibber (6 November 1671 – 11 December 1757) was an English actor-manager, playwright