An Introduction to Colley Cibber's Love's Last Shift

Abstract

<p>Cibber as a subject is a rather limited one, and all studies so far have tended to be general and hence repetitious. This study is limited to an analysis of the first of his plays. An attempt has also been made to give a picture of Cibber himself, with a brief resume of his more than forty successful years in the theatre. <br /><br />Any discussion of Love's Last Shift necessarily entails the fitting of the play into its literary and social contexts: this has been essayed in Part Two, with a survey of comic theory and practice from the Restoration to the early years of the eighteenth century. With this is given the reaction of society away from Restoration libertine comedy to a more consciously exemplary type of play.</p>