Stage Review - Our Country's Good

Rachel Wilson (Mary Brenham) Kate Stuart (Dabby Bryant) Huw Randall (officer Ralph Clark)
An amateur theatre production of Our Country's Good 
by Chatsworth Players (2024)
Directed by Maggie Ford

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Background 

Our Country’s Good by contemporary playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker is based on the 1987 published novel The Playmaker by Australian novelist, Thomas Keneally, which tells of a group of convicted criminals, soldiers and marine officers transported from Britain to the distant Sydney Cove, New South Wales in the eighteenth century.

Our Country’s Good also features text and reference to a body of pre existing work within, namely dramatist's George Farquhar (b. 1677 d.1707) Restoration Comedy: The Recruiting Officer.

Overview 

The convicts are a group of both men and women, some of whom the punishment of being banished to the other side of the world definitely outweighed the seriousness of crimes committed. 

English Captain, Arthur Phillip and his 2nd Lieutenant, Ralph Clark are in agreement that there may be beneficial results, perhaps reforming good character and instilling new found confidence in both the men and women, if they were to be part of putting on their own version of The Recruiting Officer.

Clark recruits his group of largely, angry, bitter, dispirited players and rehearsals get underway. He is particularly impressed by Mary as she can read and she helps others to learn their lines.

Comment

The comedy comes in the form of read throughs, direction tips, and rehearsal settings. This story is not all about the pitiful, harsh life and an impending famine to hit a penal colony. It is also about theatre; about art and refinement, performance and the channelling of positivity through joint involvement and how making small moves toward self improvement can be a recipe for good no matter how adverse a situation. Acknowledging, therefore, that participating in activities that bring about educational, emotional and social benefits is by no means a modern ideal.

The script is forever mindful of its theatre placing and with an audience in attendance, as character(s) deliver lines full of tongue in cheek audicity aimed specifically for the onlooker which suggest that:

'people who don't pay attention...' or 'people with no imagination...' don't belong in the theatre!

And instructions given to the group at curtain call - 'look up to the circle - look left - look right' [...] do that and each audience member will think you're looking at them!

Wonderful, naturalistic performances by all members of the talented cast, Our Country’s Good is a bold choice by Chatsworth Players and is a display of the company's breadth of versatility when you compare it with past productions. Great writing one can attach to this piece as a whole, the language is fabulous, though a little crude and 'near the knuckle' for believability purpose. Age guidance 16 years plus.

We really did need to use our imaginations to envisage a Botany Bay setting while sitting in the performance space of a nineteeth century, town hall building in North Derbyshire with snow seen falling through a gap in the window curtains, however, it was throughly enjoyed and well received, so guessing we theatre goers gave it the attention it deserved.

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Review by theatre critic, Debra Hall who attended the performance by Chatsworth Players of Our Country's Good at Wirksworth Town Hall, Derbyshire on Thursday 21 November at 7.30pm

 

REFERENCES

Chatsworth Players Our Country's Good printed programme

Digital panopticon https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/New_South_Wales_Convict_Indexes_1788-1873

Google search

Lindsay@ Chatsworth Players Meet the Men (07 Nov)

LitCharts Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker https://www.litcharts.com/lit/our-country-s-good/characters/

StockRoom https://www.stockroom.co.uk

Study Smarter Timberlake Wertenbaker

https://www.studysmarter.co.uk/explanations/english-literature/dramatists/timberlake-wertenbaker/