Posted by Our Country’s Good
Bristol Old Vic
Until Saturday, November 28
By Susie Weldon
The brutal realities of life in convict Australia are brought beautifully home in the Bristol Old Vic Young Company’s new production, Our Country’s Good – a soaring tribute to the creative spirit’s ability to transcend darkness and degradation.
Exploiting the studio theatre space to the full, this enthusiastic company of young people, led by professional directors, musicians and designers, sang, hummed, danced, drummed their fingers on the floor and, above all, acted their socks off to conjure a sense of the claustrophobia, desperation and hopelessness experienced by both the convicts and their Royal Marine guards.
Set in 1789, Timberlake Wertenbaker’s modern classic, directed by Miranda Cromwell, follows a lonely young lieutenant’s attempts to direct the first play performed in the British penal colony of Australia – “this flat, brittle, burnt-out country”.
With only two copies of the script, convicts as actors, a leading lady who may be hanged and fierce opposition from some of other Royal Marine officers, who believe “the theatre leads to threatening theory”, Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark’s efforts appear doomed.
But gradually the redeeming power of theatre to transform and transcend overcomes these obstacles, and we see the convicts reclaim their humanity.
Wertenbaker’s script is a joy, mixing bursts of humour with moments of real tenderness and poignancy to lighten this play’s dark and disturbing elements.
Our Country’s Good comes with a warning of very strong language and right from the beginning the audience is brought face to face with the stark realities of life in late 18th-century England.
In this harsh, class-ridden society, a 17-year-old can be transported for seven years for stealing a sheep, an 82-year-old woman can be hung for pinching a biscuit and convict women face the stark choice between finding a protector (effectively prostituting themselves) or risking repeated rape from both the sailors and their fellow convicts.
The actors were strong throughout but several stood out. Aydin Balli commanded the stage as the compassionate, civilised governor Captain Philip; Kane Power was a wonderfully angry, cruel Major Ross; Felix Pilgrim enlisted our sympathy as the miserable, ineffectual Second Lieutenant Clark who undergoes his own transformation; Ruby Spencer was compelling as the embittered, cynical Dabby Bryant; Jesse Jones was superb as the agonised Midshipman Harry Brewer; Kerry Lovell gave a powerful and moving performance as convict Liz Morden; and Alistair Debling was very funny as the affected thesp Robert Sideway.
Due to phenomenal demand, extra performances have been laid on for Our Country’s Good. I strongly recommend you catch it if you can.
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