A Perfect Cure

A Perfect Cure is a play in one act by William Sapte, Jr. (fl. circa 1890s)

The original text

Published by Samuel French Ltd (1899) (French' s Acting edition) There have been few references found so far to a play by this name and written by W. Sapte, Jr., except for a brief reference in an American list of plays for girls which dates the play around the 1890s and an entry on it as a in one act play for four characters in Hogg's listing of plays (1914).

Nothing much is known about Sapte, except that he wrote m,any works on a range of matters, including the theatre and sport, and published most of them in the 1890s.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

F.C.L. Bosman (1980) lists two performances of a play by this name (ascribed to Sapte) and one simply called The Cure (ascribed to "Anon"), for 1862. He possibly took this information from adverts, reviews or the acting Clara Tellett's company's documentation, but there is some doubt about the veracity of the information, for the sources consulted seem to suggest that the play in question may only date from the 1890s. The likely answer is that the play performed was actually the better known play called A Cure for the Heartache (Morton).

1862: Performed as A Perfect Cure by Clara Tellett and her company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 2 August, with The Maid of the Mill (Bickerstaffe) and Love in Humble Life (Scribe/Payne).

1862: Performed in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town on 4 August, along with performances of Still Waters Run Deep (Taylor) and Monsieur Tonson (Moncrieff) by the Cape Town Dramatic Club.

1862: Performed as A Perfect Cure by Clara Tellett and her company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 11 and 12 August, with The Bonnie Fishwife (Selby) , The Married Bachelor, or Master and Man (O'Calligan) and The Pilot, or A Tale of the Sea (Fitzball).