Our Country's Good

Synopsis

Based on a heart-warming true story, the play follows a group of 18th Century convicts and officers as they confront a savage new land. These jailbirds, male and female, have no rights and their treatment is as ferocious as the landscape. But one man defies the rules. Lt Ralph Clark creates the very first piece of theatre ever to be performed in Australia, The Recruiting Officer. The drama mounts as the convicts rehearse, and their hopes for a new life grow stronger. Incredibly the play will go on! Our Country's Good was first presented at the Royal Court Theatre, London on 10 September 1988. Note: The convicts use explicit language and this award-winning play contains scenes which some people might find shocking.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 5 February 2013

Max Stafford-Clark premiered Timberlake Wertenbaker's 1988 play about a colony of convicts in New South Wales rehearsing a production of The Recruiting Officer with a parallel production of the Restoration comedy itself, and the same crew of actors.

His definitive revival for his Out of Joint company, 25 years on, is as persuasive of the play's qualities as was his recent re-visiting of  Caryl Churchill's Top Girls; neither play needed rehabilitation, exactly, but both can triumphantly claim "modern classic" status.

Our Country's Good is going to carry renewed impact at a time of cuts and the economic - some say politically motivated - threat to arts activities in schools and indeed prisons; the glorious second act of this play is a metaphorical hymn to the act of making theatre in a community that has learned to define itself in the process.

And this really happened: George Farquhar's great comedy was the first theatr...

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Latest User Review

David Baxter - 22 March 2013:

It is unforgiveable that a new theatre should have only two seats that are just about bearable for someone of around average height so the programming at the St James will have to be very good to persuade me to tolerate the lack of leg room, short arm rests and a vertiginous rake. Luckily Our Country's Good qualifies. Max Stafford-Clark has given it an appropriately rough and ready production which contrasts the redeeming possibilities of an amateur theatrical production with the cruelties and injustice of Australia's first penal colony. A cast of just ten do wonders doubling, tripling and even quadrupling roles. John Hollingworth impresses as the remarkably liberal Governor General and Dominic Thorburn is very good as the naive 2nd lieutenant determined to see the best in his cast of convicts (a minor quibble; I don't think director was widely used as a theatrical term until the 1930s). Lovely Laura dos Santos is deeply touching as a young prisoner inspired by acting and a growing love for her 'director'. You really hope for a happy ending for her although this seems unlikely from the programme notes. Loosely based on a true story this is a slightly rose couloured love letter to the possibilities of theatre but offers a moving celebration of the human spirit even in the worst of circumstances....

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