Our Country’s Good at Lyric Hammersmith Theatre – review

The horrors of colonial rule are stamped into the fabric of our society. Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Our Country’s Good (directed here by Rachel O’Riordan, and based on The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally) wants you to remember from the moment the play begins.

A flag is pinned to the back of the stage: on first glance appearing to set a patriotic tone. Then you hear the slashing of flesh: as the play continues, blood stains slowly leak through the fabric. This is a dark and sinister play that will stay with you like the bloody blotches on the flag.

If anyone isn’t familiar with the context, Our Country’s Good tells the story of Britain’s colonisation of Australia in the 18^th and 19^th century. Between 1788 and 1868, approximately 161,700 convicts were transported to multiple Australian colonies following crimes ranging from petty theft such as stealing a biscuit, to capital punishment crimes like murder.

Wertenbaker’s story brings with it a fantastic array of Dickensian-esque characters, grimy and entitled they move around the stage with a certain swagger and confidence. The acting is brilliant.

O’Riordan’s strategic use of actors of colour and women across roles of considerable degrees of power add another dimension to the play that contributes to its perverse undertones. The use of a cultural consultant, Ian Michael, is a necessity – and every moment in the play feels authentic and non-exploitative. For the first time in this play’s professional history a First Nation actor appears in the role of Killara (Naarah). Even this moment of celebration is short lived: the casting choice also feels like another reminder of colonialism and white supremacy.

The humour (and there is plenty of that) is slashed with sharp violin strings akin to a horror film. The audience cannot get too comfortable with this performance. There are several scenes that hit like the initial whips heard on stage and the stage design and lighting make you feel as though you are there existing in that time and space. Gary McCann (set and costume design) and Paul Keogan’s (lighting design) is ingenious, and a solid reminder of a land stolen and saturated with debauchery. The smog that shrouds the stage replicates the smoggy filth of the London streets in the period – corrupting the beautiful First Nation lands. By the time the play draws to a close, the trees are replaced with empty beer cans, First Nation natives are labelled as “savages” and are dying from smallpox; the British replace the natives, forming Australia as we know it.

There are many stand-out performances and as the play relies on dual roles to give each character breath, the actors are nothing short of wonderful. Jack Bardoe is tremendously haunted and unhinged in his dual role, as is Simon Manyonda as the overzealous, passionate theatre enthusiast who draws you away from the persistent horror on stage. Finbar Lynch, in another dual role as the executioner and the sadistic lieutenant, delivers another turn that lingers.

Our Country’s Good is not for the weak-stomached. There are heavy themes that will leave you absolutely shattered, physically and emotionally. It’s also terrific, and proof that theatre can be a prompt for further investigation – in this case, highlighting the true history of many of these “great nations.”