 |
Our Country's Good by
Timberlake Wertenbaker |
|
Our Country's Good by
Timberlake Wertenbaker |
| Our
County's Good is based on the novel The
Playmaker by Thomas Keneally and owes much to Robert
Hughes' history of transportation, The Fatal Shore.
It tells the story of how a production of The
Recruiting Officer, by George Farquhar, came to be
performed by convicts, in the Sidney Cove, to celebrate
the King's birthday in 1789. Although set in the past and dealing with an event which actually occurred, the play is modern in that the central issues are immediately relevant. As Timberlake Wertenbaker has said: "I'm trying to write about how people are treated, what it means to be brutalised, what it means to live without hope and how theatre can be a humanising force." Our Country's Good was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1988 by a group of ten actors, including our President Jim Broadbent. |
Cast |
|
| Captain Arthur Phillip, RN (Governor-in-Chief of New South Wales | Ruth Andrews |
| Major Robbie Ross, RM | Ian Uprichard |
| Captain David Collins, RM (Advocate General) | Jane Rylands-Bolton |
| Captain Watkin Tench, RM | Phillip Hanes |
| Captain Jemmy Campbell, RM | Andy Abernethy |
| Reverend Johnson | Hugh Dower |
| Lieutenant George Johnston, RM | Jenny Horrey |
| Lieutenant Will Dawes, RM | Jenny Peachey |
| Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark, RM | Richard Magrin |
| Second Lieutenant William Faddy, RM | Kirsty Laminman |
| Midshipman Harry Brewer, RN (Provost Marshall) | Tim Bradford |
| An Aboriginal Australian | Noreen Bradford |
| John Arscott | Matthew Mannion |
| Black Caesar | Noreen Bradford |
| Ketch Freeman | Luke Downend |
| Robert Sideway | Kirsty Laminman |
| John Wisehammer | Hugh Dower |
| Mary Brenham | Anna Jefferson |
| Dabby Bryant | Julie Taylor |
| Liz Morden | Lynn Chapman |
| Duckling Smith | Lizi Lamming |
| Meg Long | Jenny Peachey |
Crew |
|
| Stage Manager | Pauline Uprichard |
| Set | David Broughton & Ian Uprichard |
| Lighting | Bentley Hughes |
| Sound | Robert Dennis & Thirzah Jennings |
| Dresser | Mary Davidson |
| Continuity | Jenny Brundle |
| Poster Design | Ben Day |
| Programme Layout | Graham Davidson |
| Box Office | Vicki Makin |
Acknowledgements |
|
| The Lace
Market Theatre, Nottingham The Robin Hood Theatre, Averham Blackfriars Theatre, Boston The Old Hall, Gainsborough Junk and Disorderly, Market Rasen Walter Bolton |