author
George Colman
1732–1794
Best known as a lively 18th-century comic dramatist, he also helped shape London theater as an editor, translator, and manager. His plays mixed wit, satire, and stagecraft in ways that kept them popular well beyond his lifetime.
1 Audiobook
A Fairy Tale in Two Acts Taken from Shakespeare (1763)
by William Shakespeare, George Colman, David Garrick
About the author
Born in Florence in April 1732, George Colman the Elder became one of the best-known English dramatists of the eighteenth century. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, and first gained notice as a witty essayist, editing The Connoisseur with Bonnell Thornton.
Colman built his reputation through comedy and theatrical writing, with works including Polly Honeycombe, The Jealous Wife, and, with David Garrick, The Clandestine Marriage. He also translated Terence and adapted older English drama for the stage, showing both literary range and a practical sense of what audiences enjoyed.
He was more than a writer: he also managed major London theaters, including Covent Garden and later the Haymarket. That mix of authorship and theater management made him an important figure in Georgian stage life, and he is still remembered as the elder George Colman to distinguish him from his son, George Colman the Younger.