Colombe's Birthday

Colombe's Birthday is a play written by Robert Browning. In 1843, he was approached by William Macready's rival Charles Kean to write a play for him. Browning took up the offer and finished the play in 1844. In March of that year, he read the finished play to Kean and his wife, Ellen Tree, and it was accepted for production. However, they could not promise its performance until 1845 and forced Browning not to publish it until then. Despite this request, the play was published five weeks later as the next number of his Bells and Pomegranates series. The play was finally produced in 1853 through the influence of Helen Faucit, who starred in the first production as the title character. rdf:langString