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Our Country's Good
An Australian penal colony in 1789. A young lieutenant directs rehearsals of the Restoration comedy, The Recruiting Officer. With a cast of convicts, opposition from sadistic officers and a leading lady who is due to be hanged, Australia's first theatrical production is in trouble from the start.
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First published January 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews
April 18, 2021
This is a great play about a range of issues from discrimination, imperialism, gender divide and class disparity. Set in Australia with the first colonists of convicts who were sent from Britain, Wertenbaker explores whether people can redeem themselves.
This once again, like Richard III, is one of my exam set texts, which I will be assessed on in the coming weeks. I have read this and scanned through extracts so many times now, yet still find is fascinating in so many ways. That alone is testament ad to how great I think this play is.
"The theatre is like a small republic, it requires private sacrifices fir the good of the whole."
It is set in 1789, with the first soldiers and officers taking charge of convicts, attempting to colonise Australia. Wertenbaker uses this time of the British Empire, engaging with issues such as the intention of prison, rehabilitation or punishment, alongside the prominence of imperialism and class divide. These issues are efficiently depicted as a parallel to 1980s England, and the rise of 'Thatcherism', with particular emphasis on the power and importance of theatre at a time when subsidies were being dramatically reduced.
I think that one of the beauties of Our Country's Good is the different perspectives you can look at it from. I can read this in a relaxed manner and just enjoy the story. Or I can examine the social issues explored. Or I can immerse myself in the complex psychological characterisation. It is a play of many layers.
Overall, Our Country's Good is in my opinion a fantastically engaging play with wonderfully sharp dialogue that carries a depth of emotion and meaning that leaves you lingering on the themes discussed long after you have turned that final page.
5/5 STARS
This once again, like Richard III, is one of my exam set texts, which I will be assessed on in the coming weeks. I have read this and scanned through extracts so many times now, yet still find is fascinating in so many ways. That alone is testament ad to how great I think this play is.
"The theatre is like a small republic, it requires private sacrifices fir the good of the whole."
It is set in 1789, with the first soldiers and officers taking charge of convicts, attempting to colonise Australia. Wertenbaker uses this time of the British Empire, engaging with issues such as the intention of prison, rehabilitation or punishment, alongside the prominence of imperialism and class divide. These issues are efficiently depicted as a parallel to 1980s England, and the rise of 'Thatcherism', with particular emphasis on the power and importance of theatre at a time when subsidies were being dramatically reduced.
I think that one of the beauties of Our Country's Good is the different perspectives you can look at it from. I can read this in a relaxed manner and just enjoy the story. Or I can examine the social issues explored. Or I can immerse myself in the complex psychological characterisation. It is a play of many layers.
Overall, Our Country's Good is in my opinion a fantastically engaging play with wonderfully sharp dialogue that carries a depth of emotion and meaning that leaves you lingering on the themes discussed long after you have turned that final page.
5/5 STARS
November 16, 2015
This became an amazing stage production, which I ended up designing for, so it does hold a certain place in my heart, so I finally decided to read the book on which it was based.
Doomed from the start. I love things like this. It's a real slice of what makes Australia so freekin wild and fearless. In a penal colony a play is being rehearsed. Directed by the constabulary, staring inmates, the star, slated to be hung, what could possibly go right?
No one really wants to be there, everyone wants to escape this island they've been shipped to, and subsequently forgotten. So why not " Put on a play?" It's the absurdity of it all that makes it so crazy, wonderful, and sad. The characters range from distasteful and brutish to pathetic and repulsive, and some are even loveable, in a weird way.
But it takes a certain type of reader to appreciate this type of story. Not everyone will " get it".
Doomed from the start. I love things like this. It's a real slice of what makes Australia so freekin wild and fearless. In a penal colony a play is being rehearsed. Directed by the constabulary, staring inmates, the star, slated to be hung, what could possibly go right?
No one really wants to be there, everyone wants to escape this island they've been shipped to, and subsequently forgotten. So why not " Put on a play?" It's the absurdity of it all that makes it so crazy, wonderful, and sad. The characters range from distasteful and brutish to pathetic and repulsive, and some are even loveable, in a weird way.
But it takes a certain type of reader to appreciate this type of story. Not everyone will " get it".
May 13, 2021
We're doing this play for Drama and it's really interesting. We just got given our lines and I'm playing Ketch Freeman and Reverend Johnson.
UPDATE: I’m neither of them now, I’m just playing Lieutenant Ralph Clark due to covid circumstances and I have the most boring part in the most boring scene. At least I didn’t have many lines to learn but wtf will I be doing when I don’t speak for a whole page? Stand awkwardly??
I’ve realised that none of the characters in the book are actually straight (apart from the hypocritical pricks who pay for prostitutes’ bodies yet decide to say they’re a disgrace like wtf dude) Here is a list of the sexuality of the characters:
-Ralph Clark is queer. yes.
-Mary Brenham is bisexual.
-Shitty Meg is pansexual. I HAVE EVIDENCE TOO (‘I can play with any part you like, Lieutenant’)
-Dabby Bryant is a feminist QUEEN! love her so much. she’s 100% lesbian
-Liz Morden is also lesbian
-Wisehammer is gay
-Ketch Freeman is ace
-Robbie Ross is gay and an iconic Scottish man. I would’ve killed to play him in the scene I’m doing, there’s this particular paragraph which is so iconic ugh
-Sideway OMG I WOULD’VE LOVED TO PLAY HIM he’s very very gay
-Duckling is a lesbian
-Harry Brewer... I don’t even know
And there are the other less important characters I can’t remember. This play is actually way better than I thought it was.
UPDATE: I’m neither of them now, I’m just playing Lieutenant Ralph Clark due to covid circumstances and I have the most boring part in the most boring scene. At least I didn’t have many lines to learn but wtf will I be doing when I don’t speak for a whole page? Stand awkwardly??
I’ve realised that none of the characters in the book are actually straight (apart from the hypocritical pricks who pay for prostitutes’ bodies yet decide to say they’re a disgrace like wtf dude) Here is a list of the sexuality of the characters:
-Ralph Clark is queer. yes.
-Mary Brenham is bisexual.
-Shitty Meg is pansexual. I HAVE EVIDENCE TOO (‘I can play with any part you like, Lieutenant’)
-Dabby Bryant is a feminist QUEEN! love her so much. she’s 100% lesbian
-Liz Morden is also lesbian
-Wisehammer is gay
-Ketch Freeman is ace
-Robbie Ross is gay and an iconic Scottish man. I would’ve killed to play him in the scene I’m doing, there’s this particular paragraph which is so iconic ugh
-Sideway OMG I WOULD’VE LOVED TO PLAY HIM he’s very very gay
-Duckling is a lesbian
-Harry Brewer... I don’t even know
And there are the other less important characters I can’t remember. This play is actually way better than I thought it was.
October 3, 2021
An odd coincidence in my life: I was doing The Playmaker (the novel the play is based on) the same time my girlfriend was doing Our Country’s Good for Drama. She played Duckling and later Nell Gwynn in Playhouse Creatures. Never did tell her she was an old hand at playing prostitutes.
The Playmaker still strikes me as better, largely because the play turns a key character, Dabby Bryant, into a mere scold rather than the zesty force of nature in the novel.
Mary Brenham is the main female character but, sadly, the least interesting of the women convicts. Her love affair with Lieutenant Clark takes up too much of the play's focus - a mistake, since any adaptation should ideally be an ensemble drama. Not a rom-com in fancy dress.
The Playmaker still strikes me as better, largely because the play turns a key character, Dabby Bryant, into a mere scold rather than the zesty force of nature in the novel.
Mary Brenham is the main female character but, sadly, the least interesting of the women convicts. Her love affair with Lieutenant Clark takes up too much of the play's focus - a mistake, since any adaptation should ideally be an ensemble drama. Not a rom-com in fancy dress.
May 11, 2014
I loved this play very much. The lives of convicts affected me deeply. especially the woman,Liz, was going to be hanged because she was accused of stealing bread for other convicts. but the interesting thing is that she did not even advocate herself. she refused to speak in front of the King.
Also, I liked the meaning of theatre in that society. they accepted it as a way of 'taming' the convicts. They were excited to rehearse their part every time and filled with hope again. the only thing that must be alive in our hearts. ' they left the country for their country's good.' the last sentence that still remains in my mind. (political one.)
Also, I liked the meaning of theatre in that society. they accepted it as a way of 'taming' the convicts. They were excited to rehearse their part every time and filled with hope again. the only thing that must be alive in our hearts. ' they left the country for their country's good.' the last sentence that still remains in my mind. (political one.)
December 21, 2011
From BBC Radio 4:
Timberlake Wertenbaker's renowned play tells the story of convicts and Marines sent to Australia in 1787 as part of the first penal colony and their attempts to stage a play.
Timberlake Wertenbaker's renowned play tells the story of convicts and Marines sent to Australia in 1787 as part of the first penal colony and their attempts to stage a play.
April 30, 2021
Low-key boring but since I’m studying this I understood the context which made it some kind of interesting and has really informed me about the prison system and has helped me form my ideas on how society is structured and classism
August 29, 2016
A great play. I extremely enjoyed reading this and analysing for my English class.
December 17, 2015
Terrific play - brutal, funny, and hopeful. It's good to read as a play script, but really comes alive (as it should) in performance. It's based on Thomas Keneally's novel THE PLAYMAKER.
November 19, 2022
Did not expect this to make me emotional
September 20, 2022
I did not expect to actually like this play but it is actually quite good and enjoyed reading it which is good cause otherwise i would have been stuffed for theatre. but yay i read it and i love lizzie and i get to play her so woop woop
July 19, 2012
Apparently this play is required for everybody's A Levels in England. It's pretty juicy. I like imagining all of the Secondary School performances of this that must have occurred in England over the years. I'm pretty sure if I were a convict shipped off to Australia, I'd want to be in a play. It's interesting to think about that first colony and of Australia now. They're all a bunch of rabble rousers and thieves. No, not really. How awful that someone could point their finger at you for stealing food and whether you did or not, you're shipped to another hemisphere to another continent so that your country can be cleansed from a crime you didn't commit. They sure were quick to hang people too. Clearly, I'm not passing my A Levels. Ha, this is the worst essay ever. OK, but there's some inconsistency in tone in this play. I find it hard to buy the shiny optimism of the scene when all the actors/convicts are talking about the future when one of them is about to get hanged tomorrow. Behold! The power of theatre! Really? Really? They were all fighting and miserable a second ago. Meh, what do I know? It's probably some very deliberate device. I just don't buy it. Seems like ole Timberlake had such a juicy topic and was going in a really controversial direction and then got wet feet and decided to paint flowers and puffy clouds all over everything. Though, I guess that's kind of how I imagine Australia now. All flowers and puffy clouds. So, maybe she was onto something.
September 4, 2018
OUR COUNTRY’S GOOD is a profoundly delicate play, charged with suffering and pain, but still full of hope. While trying to find the best way to keep imprisoned convicts in line, a young Second Lieutenant decides to put up a play. While the mostly illiterate cast rehearses and find amongst them a sense of common purpose and camaraderie, the officer experiences his own transformation just as poignant and sharp as that of his prisoners. This is a play based on real events, as well as the novel THE PLAYMAKER by Thomas Keneally, and celebrates throughout the redemptive power of art.
September 21, 2016
Captivating. The way the author addresses the questions of "nature vs nurture" by bringing to light the impact of culture on those who haven't had the chance to experience. It really makes one think about our judicial system and the class system in the world we live in, even now in these more modern times. Knowing that the book is loosely based on real people from the initial colonization of Australia only makes it that much more intriguing.
January 4, 2016
I just couldn't quite get going on this one...clearly very carefully crafted and the play-within-a-play device creates for some valuable meta moments, but I'm not sure it went anywhere for me. Maybe I need to spend a little more time understanding Australian history. Definitely some funny moments as well as some places that provoke the mind, but nothing that blew my hair back.
Read
April 16, 2012I cannot really say I was particularly blown away by this play. I only came across it and had to read it because it was part of my course. Although I admit it is a clever and good enough read it is not my particular cup of tea.
December 1, 2014
4.5 stars
February 28, 2020
Such a good play !
November 15, 2020
I saw this play thanks to the Repertory Theater of St. Louis circa 1990. It was a brilliant production. Before that, I didn't know that England sent prisoners to Australia in the 18th century.
August 14, 2023
really 3.5⭐️
March 6, 2014
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/...
bbc blurb - Australia 1789: A young lieutenant attempts to direct a cast of convicts in 'The Recruiting Officer', the first play ever to be staged in the country. But one of his cast may be about to be hanged. The convicts' production of The Recruiting Officer can be heard on Drama on 3 on Sunday evening..
Captain Arthur Philip ..... Nicholas Le Prevost
Major Robbie Ross ..... Stuart McQuarrie
Captain David Collins ..... Paul Moriarty
Captain Watkin Tench ..... Adam Billington
Captain Campbell ..... James Lailey
2nd Lieutenant Ralph Clark ..... Paul Higgins
Reverend Johnson ..... Simon Bubb
Midshipman Harry Brewer ..... Rikki Lawton
Mary Brenham ..... Francine Chamberlain
Robert Sideway ..... Adam James
John Wisehammer ..... Elliot Levey
Liz Morden ..... Kate Fleetwood
Dabby Bryant ..... Alex Tregear
John Arscott ...... Ralph Ineson
Ketch Freeman ..... Jonathan Forbes
Duckling Smith ..... Adjoa Andoh
Director ..... Sally Avens
more blurbs - Timberlake Wertenbaker's stage play was adapted from Thomas Keneally's novel, 'The Playmaker'. It tells the true story of Lieutenant Ralph Clark's attempts to put on a production of George Farquhar's 'The Recruiting Officer' using a cast of convicts. It met with high praise when it was first staged at The Royal Court and the play argues eloquently for the redemptive power of theatre. Many of the arguments are still current today as we debate how best to rehabilitate prisoners. At the heart of the play is its language; Wertenbaker celebrates the beauty of language in the slang of the criminal classes and the poetry of the play but she also looks at how language is used as an instrument of power.
Over one weekend Radio 4 and Radio 3 present new productions of 'Our Country's Good' and 'The Recruiting Officer' using the same cast. On Saturday on Radio 4 we hear 'Our Country's Good' and watch a group of convicts' lives change as they rehearse 'The Recruiting Officer' and on Sunday on Radio 3 we hear the convicts' production of 'The Recruiting Officer'.
bbc blurb - Australia 1789: A young lieutenant attempts to direct a cast of convicts in 'The Recruiting Officer', the first play ever to be staged in the country. But one of his cast may be about to be hanged. The convicts' production of The Recruiting Officer can be heard on Drama on 3 on Sunday evening..
Captain Arthur Philip ..... Nicholas Le Prevost
Major Robbie Ross ..... Stuart McQuarrie
Captain David Collins ..... Paul Moriarty
Captain Watkin Tench ..... Adam Billington
Captain Campbell ..... James Lailey
2nd Lieutenant Ralph Clark ..... Paul Higgins
Reverend Johnson ..... Simon Bubb
Midshipman Harry Brewer ..... Rikki Lawton
Mary Brenham ..... Francine Chamberlain
Robert Sideway ..... Adam James
John Wisehammer ..... Elliot Levey
Liz Morden ..... Kate Fleetwood
Dabby Bryant ..... Alex Tregear
John Arscott ...... Ralph Ineson
Ketch Freeman ..... Jonathan Forbes
Duckling Smith ..... Adjoa Andoh
Director ..... Sally Avens
more blurbs - Timberlake Wertenbaker's stage play was adapted from Thomas Keneally's novel, 'The Playmaker'. It tells the true story of Lieutenant Ralph Clark's attempts to put on a production of George Farquhar's 'The Recruiting Officer' using a cast of convicts. It met with high praise when it was first staged at The Royal Court and the play argues eloquently for the redemptive power of theatre. Many of the arguments are still current today as we debate how best to rehabilitate prisoners. At the heart of the play is its language; Wertenbaker celebrates the beauty of language in the slang of the criminal classes and the poetry of the play but she also looks at how language is used as an instrument of power.
Over one weekend Radio 4 and Radio 3 present new productions of 'Our Country's Good' and 'The Recruiting Officer' using the same cast. On Saturday on Radio 4 we hear 'Our Country's Good' and watch a group of convicts' lives change as they rehearse 'The Recruiting Officer' and on Sunday on Radio 3 we hear the convicts' production of 'The Recruiting Officer'.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 27, 2015
Clever play.
Phillip: The Greeks believed that it was a citizen's duty to watch a play. It was a kind of work in that it required attention, judgement, patience, all the social virtues.
Tench: And the Greek were conquered by the more practical Romans, Arthur.
Collins: Indeed, the Romans built their bridges, but they also spent many centuries wishing they were Greeks. And they, after all, were conquered by the barbarians, or by their own corrupt and small spirits.
----
Collins: Dawes? Dawes, do come back to earth and honour us with your attention for a moment.
-----
Duckling: Why are you so angry with your Duckling, harry? Don't you like it when I open my legs wide to you? Cross them over you - the way you like? What will you do when your little Duckling isn't there anymore to touch you with her soft fingertips, Harry, where you like it? First the left nipple and then the right. Your Duckling doesn't want to leave you, Harry.
Harry: Duckling...
Duckling: I need freedom sometimes, Harry.
-----
Ralph: It is very good, Wisehammer, it's very well written, but it's too-too-political. It will be considered provocative.
Wisehammer: You don't want me to say it.
Ralph: Not tonight. We have many people against us.
Wisehammer; I could tone it down. I could omit 'We left our country for our country's good.'
Dabby: That's the best line.
Phillip: The Greeks believed that it was a citizen's duty to watch a play. It was a kind of work in that it required attention, judgement, patience, all the social virtues.
Tench: And the Greek were conquered by the more practical Romans, Arthur.
Collins: Indeed, the Romans built their bridges, but they also spent many centuries wishing they were Greeks. And they, after all, were conquered by the barbarians, or by their own corrupt and small spirits.
----
Collins: Dawes? Dawes, do come back to earth and honour us with your attention for a moment.
-----
Duckling: Why are you so angry with your Duckling, harry? Don't you like it when I open my legs wide to you? Cross them over you - the way you like? What will you do when your little Duckling isn't there anymore to touch you with her soft fingertips, Harry, where you like it? First the left nipple and then the right. Your Duckling doesn't want to leave you, Harry.
Harry: Duckling...
Duckling: I need freedom sometimes, Harry.
-----
Ralph: It is very good, Wisehammer, it's very well written, but it's too-too-political. It will be considered provocative.
Wisehammer: You don't want me to say it.
Ralph: Not tonight. We have many people against us.
Wisehammer; I could tone it down. I could omit 'We left our country for our country's good.'
Dabby: That's the best line.
May 13, 2016
A play that deals with two opposing forces that have different arguments when it comes to the talking of solution on how to make a better society. The setting of the play is the early time of Australia, when it was still functioned as a place to send the convicts from England. Realizing that these convicts will end up living there, one group of the authorities decided to 'educate' the convicts through art or in this case through theatrical performances. But other group believes that to create harmony in society a country needs to form a harsh law and punishment. Punishment is the only way to discipline those criminals, they say. Opposite to this idea, the other group believes that teaching manner (acting has double meaning, both acting a good manner, and acting as a performer) is better than putting harsh punishment to them.
February 3, 2024
Probably should have watched rather than read.
Read
May 2, 2015When I wikied the play, it said there were over 20 characters; nevertheless, Timberlake only used more than 10 actors and actresses to perform the play. How amazing is Timberlake! Indeed, it reminded me of Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy. In sinior high school, did astonish and bewilder me, though I have not finish it yet -- a piety. Within the first ca. 30 pages, nearly 30 characters showed up (°ཀ°). In other words, approximately 1 character comes to you on 1 page. Russian names are really, really confusing, even intricate. Once I read how go, eureka, I got the tirck!
PS: Finished this book on April 25 or 26.
PS: Finished this book on April 25 or 26.
August 14, 2015
I really admire this play - it's very difficult to stage, it's long, even epic - but if it is well directed, designed and performed it can be a great theatrical experience. Did you know that this is the product of Max Stafford-Clark's brilliant idea to encourage new writing at the Royal Court, which of course is famous for its new writing? He gave budding playwrights a classical script (in this case George Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer) and told them to have a go, based on their reading but not another version of the classic. Instead they needed to come up with something new, and this really does the trick! It's not in my top tier of plays, but it's smart and very dramatic.
September 5, 2008
I directed this play. A terrific script. Very compelling scenes between individual characters and also the great debate scene in the middle of the play. The struggle I had in directing it was to stage the somewhat underwritten Aborigine pieces. I also wished the Black Caesar had been given more power in terms of reaching the audience. The letters written by contemporary prisoners in England who staged the play are very affecting.
June 19, 2011
First off, this is not a novel it is a play. I enjoyed it although reading plays by choice is not something I would do (this was a book club choice), however, it was interesting and it helped that I had read a book by Thomas Keneally called "The Playmaker" rather than reading this play I would recommend either going to see it if you can get the opportunity or read the Thomas Keneally novel which was excellent.
August 10, 2007
This is a great play. Infused with poetic language (not in verse- don't worry if that sort of thing freaks you out), comedy, love, class struggle, heartbreak and history. Inmates transplanted from Britain into Australia in 1788/89, attempt to put on a play at the direction of a British soldier. This is truly a modern classic.7 Men, 5 Women with doubling.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews