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Theatre

Our Country's Good, National Theatre ★★★★★

19 Aug 15 – 17 Oct 15, 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM

Timberlake Wertenbaker's masterpiece about the humanising power of theatre for prisoners in 1788 Australia is revived at the National Theatre.

By Lucy Brooks on 27/8/2015

National Theatre revival: Our Country's Good
National Theatre revival: Our Country's Good
Our Country's Good, National Theatre 4 Our Country's Good, National Theatre Lucy Brooks
Our Country's Good, National Theatre review: Culture Whisper says ★★★★★

Described by National Theatre Artistic Director Rufus Norris as a "redemptive love song to theatre", Our Country's Good follows the first convict ship to arrive in Australia as the outcasts come together to perform a play.
First performed over 25 years ago at the Royal Court Theatre, Our Country's Good charmed audiences and critics. The show has since played on the West End and Broadway and been nominated for 5 Tony Awards in 1991 and won the Olivier Award for Play of the Year in 1988.
Though it has only been two years since the play was last on the London stage, this National Theatre revival managed to feel fresh and timely as director Nadia Fell celebrates both the humanity and complexity of the story in a rich, uplifting production that embodies the themes of theatre's value.
Prison Theatre: Our Country's Good summary
Timberlake Wertenbaker’s inspiration for the play was Thomas Keneally’s novel, The Playmaker, set in Sydney Cove, the most remote penal colony of the British Empire in 1788. Wertenbaker based the names of characters on the actual passengers who sailed to Australia on the First Fleet, and was given access to their 18th century journals to root her presentation of this history of convicts in truth.
Our Country's Good revival
Peter McKintosh's spectacular set rises up, creating multiple levels on the Olivier stage to capture both the vast vistas of Australia and the entrapment of a transportation ship.The sex, violence and homesickness of the new colony are confronted with unflinching honesty, without veering into exaggeration.
Cerys Matthews' new score mingles traditional folk, blues, jazz and indigenous Australian music, spanning continents and eras. The effect is mixed and though the concept of a score that illustrates a sense of relocating and cultures coming together sounds better on paper. At moments the music elevated the drama, but, at other points it competed with the narrative and distracted.
The momentum comes from the quality of the performances. There's no weak link in the large cast and each character feels three-dimensional.
The prison officers' debates about reformation, culture and human rights are weighty stuff, but are made engaging and lively. And, as Captain Arthur Phillip (Cyril Nri) insists that this new society can only thrive if fear and tyranny are replaced by truth and respect, there is a piercing relevance. Timberlake Wertenbaker's script is an eloquent and deft defence of theatre's value and, in a climate of increasing arts cuts, it's revelatory and pertinent on the National Theatre stage.
But the success of this revival is the well-paced comedy, violence and pathos that punctuate the moral message. As ambitious and earnest Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark, played with charm by Jason Hughes, directs a motley crew of convicts in a George Farquhar comedy, the meta-theatrical jokes raise plenty of knowing chuckles. While the brutal treatment of the prisoners is flinch-making and the wretched backstories are tear-jerking, ultimately Our Country's Good is an uplifting, powerful play about the power of a play.


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What Our Country's Good, National Theatre
Where National Theatre, South Bank, London, SE1 9PX | MAP
Nearest tube Waterloo (underground)
When 19 Aug 15 – 17 Oct 15, 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM
Price £5 - £35
Website Click here to book via the National Theatre



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  • THE NATIONAL THEATRE

    As one of London's more finely balanced examples of Brutalist architecture, the National Theatre has long remained a domineering icon of the South Bank. Architects Sir Denys Lasdun and Peter Softley pushed the boundaries of theatre design with three vast stages (opening between 1976 and 1977) that happily accommodate the most ambitious of productions.With a rich programme that simultaneously shows Shakespeare, international classics and contemporary theatre, for many, the Nation's theatre rarely fails with the with the quality of its direction, staging and performance.

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  • Green Room

    A great place to eat or relax, the Nation Theatre's Green Room is enclosed in a sustainable garden, which acts as an urban oasis amid the hustle and bustle of the Southbank. The Green Room is open from noon until midnight from Monday-Saturday, and until 10pm on Sundays.

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