Mauvaise Tête et Bon Coeur

Mauvaise Tête et Bon Coeur ("A bad head and a good heart") is a French comedy in three acts by Edmé-Guillaume-François Favières (1755 - 1837)[1].

The original text

The original French play was first performed at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, on 10 August, 1789, and published in Paris by Cailleau, & fils in 1790.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into Dutch from the French by an unknown translator as De Goedhartige Losbol ("The kind-hearted rake"). The translation published in Amsterdam by Jan Willem Smit, 1799.

Translated into German as Leichtsinn und Gutes Herz ("Levity and good heart") by F.G. Hagemann. Performed at the Hoftheater , Vienna and published by J.B. Wallishausser, 1802.

F.C.L. Bosman, 1928[2]: p. 133, suggests De Goedhartige Losbol may be a Dutch translation of Leichtsinn und Gutes Herz by Friedrich Gustav Hagemann (1760-1829) - however the Dutch published text says it is from the French, and thus the German text is actually also a translation of the original French text, and was apparently published after the appearance of the Dutch version.

Performance history in South Africa

1818: Performed in Cape Town by Tot Nut en Vermaak in Dutch as De Goedhartige Losbol on 2 December, 1818, with De Deserteur (Von Kotzebue) as afterpiece.