Updated Version of Our Country's Good
“We left our country for our country’s good.”
Prologue
This is an interesting play by Timberlake Wertenbaker which is regularly revived since its first premiere in 1988 at the Royal Court. Our Country’s Good is a play within a play based on the novel The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally. It concerns a group of convicts sent to Australia who put on a play in 1788, The Recruiting Officer which was written in 1706 by George Farquhar.
Set in the late 1780s soon after the First Fleet of convicts in 1788, it has as a backdrop, the harsh reality of the English Justice System. It was entirely unremarkable for an offender to be hanged for stealing a loaf of bread to feed their family. However, with American Independence declared in 1776, the British Government continued the opportunity of making a profit out of those who had committed minor crimes such as stealing a handkerchief, so they shipped them off to Australia, unlikely to ever return. These same ships returned loaded with wood and natural resources or went on to other colonies.
If there is a suspicion that this was an easy alternative to prison, the opposite is true, the voyage would typically take eight months. Convict ships, which housed men, women and children, were overcrowded; the solders, typically marines, were brutal jailers. For a minor offence – looking the wrong way at an officer, 50 lashes; stealing food, summary hanging. If the journey took longer than provided for, the convicts starved.
On arrival at Botany Bay everything had to be made from scratch, trees cut down to make houses for the jailers, land cleared and food scavenged from the countryside. Again, for stealing food there was a hanging which became a social day out for all.
There were some more enlightened officers, and along with the Governor (Harry Kershaw), they sought to improve the welfare of the convicts. Lieutenant Dawes (Catrin Aaron) manages to get permission to put on a play The Recruiting Officer with convicts playing all of the roles.
Difficulties such as not being able to read, inability to speak and act as the script requires is the source of much humour. Just to show humorous anachronisty, the marines all drink cans of Fosters on the King’s Birthday. Lieutenant Dawes, a comparatively junior officer, has to save the occasional cast member from being hanged.
The cast have at least one other role, usually either part of the sadistic marines or the convicts and this works well: a credit to the Director (Rachel O’Riordan). Gary McCann’s set is layers of sand dunes and trees, which shows well the parched earth of the continent. I particularly liked Finbar Lynch as the reluctant hangman and Ruby Bentall as Mary Brenham and others.
Importantly there is a Cultural Consultant, Ian Michael, whose input has been to accurately reflect the interaction of the indigenous people to the colonists. The narrator Killara (Naarah) a Gija woman from the Kimberly area who speaks partly in her native tongue and English is most effective describing how the Aboriginals reacted to the interlopers and their effect on the land. The full-grown trees in the first act become stumps in the second.
At approaching three hours including the interval, the play moves along at a pace and the audience reacted positively, even to its length. All of the cast performed well, even when being lashed, and I would recommend a serious look at this unusual play.
Editor’s Note: This version of Our Country’s Good has been revised by the director.
Production Notes
Our Country’s Good
by Timberlake Wertenbaker
Based on The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally
Directed by Rachel O’Riordan
Cast
Starring:
Catrin Aaron
Finbar Lynch
Harry Kershaw
Naarah
Jack Bardoe
Nick Fletcher
Nicola Stephenson
Olivier Huband
Ruby Bentall
Simon Manyonda
Aliyah Odoffin
Creatives
Director: Rachel O’Riordan
Designer: Gary McCann
Lighting Designer: Paul Keoghan
Composer: Holly Khan
Sound Director: Gregory Clarke
Fight Director: Bethan Clark
Information
Running Time: Two hours 45 minutes with an interval
Booking to 5th October 2024
Theatre:
Lyric Theatre
King Street
Hammersmith
London W6 0QL
Box Office: 020 8741 6850
Website: lyric.co.uk
Tube: Hammersmith
Reviewed by Malcolm Beckett at the Lyric Hammersmith
on 12th September 2024