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:

Paul Lucas-Scott - 18 April 2012

The Original Theatre Company, in association with Basingstoke’s Anvil Arts, is presenting Timberlake Wertenbaker’s award-winning tale of the theatrical antics of penal colonists in Botany Bay as part of this year’s Eastbourne Festival. Without a shadow of a doubt, it is a major highlight in the programme.

Set in 1788, the play tells the story of how criminals, who had been taken on the first fleet of ships to the new convict colony in Australia, came together to perform George Farquhar’s The Recruiting Officer. This sometimes brutal tale is brought to life by a superb company which shows just exactly how good an ensemble piece can be.

Aden Gillet, in one of the two major roles he takes in the show, plays Captain Arthur Phillip, the Governor-in-Chief of New South Wales. It is he who sanctions the staging of the play-within-a-play, with Christopher Harper taking the role of Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark, the director of the piece. ...

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