Coffey, Charles

by Frances Clarke and Sinéad Sturgeon

Coffey, Charles (1700–45), playwright, was born in Dublin, where he worked as a schoolmaster; nothing more is known about his early life. Distinguished more for editing the works of others than for writing his own, his first production was a ballad opera entitled ‘The beggar's wedding’ (indebted to John Gay's ‘The beggar's opera’), a satire of the Dublin corporation staged at Smock Alley in March 1729. It made little impression, and is most notable for its inclusion of the popular songs ‘Lilliburlero’ and ‘Eileen Aroon’, the earliest known instance of Irish airs incorporated into English drama. Coffey took his opera to London where, reformulated as a one-act afterpiece entitled ‘Phebe, or, The beggar's wedding’, it proved extremely popular. Coffey's next and most significant success, co-written with John Mottley, was the ballad opera ‘The devil to pay, or, The wives metamorphosed’ (Drury Lane, 1731), adapted from Jevon's play ‘The devil of a wife’. Reduced to a one-act afterpiece, it was a sensational success in London, Ireland, and Europe, particularly Germany, where it was translated as ‘Der Teufel ist los’ and influenced the development of Singspiel. Though Coffey wrote several other dramatic pieces, such as ‘The boarding school’ (1733) and ‘The merry cobbler’ (1735), these failed to achieve any degree of popularity.

Coffey, who was diminutive and may have been deformed, was known for his good humour. He was a close friend of Peg Woffington (qv), whose career he assisted, when he persuaded the Smock Alley manager to give her the part of Nell in the Dublin premiere of ‘The devil to pay’. He moved with her to London in 1740, where he died 13 May 1745 and was buried in the parish of St Clement Danes.