The title It Is Never Too Late To Mend (or Never Too Late To Mend) can refer to a number of works, all of them based on a novel of that name by novelist and playwright Charles Reade (1814-1884)[1].

Besides the two published versions discussed below, there were also adaptations for London’s Surrey, Britannia, Marylebone and Grecian theatres in the interval between the Hazlewood (1859) and Reade (1865) versions.

The novel

The story of a ruthless squire who becomes obsessed with a younger woman and conspires to have her lover framed and sent to jail, the novel is claimed to have exposed conditions in British jails and contributed to reforms in the 19th century.

Never Too Late to Mend by C. H. Hazlewood

Hazlewood adapted the novel in 1859, when it was first staged at the Royal Marylebone Theatre and published in Lacy’s Acting Edition of Plays, Vol. 2 in the same year.

It Is Never Too Late To Mend by Charles Reade

Also known found as It's Never Too Late To Mend or It's Never too Late to Mend, or Gold, Gold, Gold, this adaptation by Reade himself is a play in three acts.

The original text

In 1859 C. H. Hazlewood’s play Never Too Late to Mend was first staged at the Royal Marylebone Theatre in 1859, and published in Lacy’s Acting Edition of Plays, Vol. 2in the same year. In both its style of representation and its production history, Hazlewood’s drama squarely locates illegitimate melodrama at the root of sensation drama. Further, it is part of an established theatrical culture in which adaptation can be indistinguishable from piracy. The play is based on Charles Reade’s 1856 novel, which was itself adapted from Reade’s dramaGold. Reade would himself re-adapt his novel for the stage in 1865; however, Reade’s play was preceded by adaptations for London’s Surrey, Britannia, Marylebone and Grecian theatres, variations between which are detailed in the notes. Shocked reaction to Reade’s 1865 drama in fact built on the success of productions at less reputable theatres. Therefore, one reason for including Hazlewood’s version in this anthology (rather than Reade’s) was to reinforce how important this astonishingly productive dramatist is to histories of mid-nineteenth century theatre, and to help to make his expansive oeuvre more accessible.

, the play opened in February 1865 at The Theatre, Leeds, where it played to great acclaim.

Translations and adaptations

The novel was filmed a number of times over the years.

Performance history in South Africa

1862: Performed as It's Never too Late to Mend, or Gold, Gold, Gold by Clara Tellett and her company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 15 December, with Marriage at any Price (Wooler). The performance given as a benefit for James Leffler, held under the patronage of the Governor's wife, Lady Wodehouse, and R. Southey, the Colonial Secretary.

1882/3: Performed as It's Never too Late to Mend by Mabel Hayes and her company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, as part of season that ran from August 1882 to June 1883. She probably did it in Port Elizabeth as well in the subsequent season.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Is_Never_Too_Late_to_Mend_(novel)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Reade#/media/File:It_is_never_too_late_to_mend_-_Weir_Collection.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Reade

Joanna Hofer-Robinson and Beth Palmer. 2020. Sensation Drama, 1860-1880: An Anthology, University Press Scholarship Online [2]

D.C. Boonzaier, 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1932. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp.132, 376

Go to ESAT Bibliography