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 - 31 January 2012

Our Country's Good, in which a colony of convicts in New South Wales rehearse a production of The Recruiting Officer, was first presented at the Royal Court in tandem with that Restoration comedy itself.

So it seems fitting that Alastair Whatley’s touring revival for the Original Theatre Company (in association with Anvil Arts) should hit the road just as George Farquhar’s comic masterpiece marks Josie Rourke’s new tenure at the Donmar Warehouse.

All the same, Timberlake Wertenbaker’s 1988 play is strong enough, like an Ibsen hero, to stand alone, even if the cruel spaces of the Rose and the ho-hum design of beige drapes and dodgy lighting don’t inspire confidence.

Ten actors play all the roles of officers and convicts drawn together in the experience of making theatre, the process of transformation encompassing side issues of the dignity of prisoners, rehabilitation, inequality of the sexes, ...

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Latest User Review

Delors Tuyshime - 27 May 2012:

I thoroughly dislike the play as it has no plot...

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