Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker 22 - 31 October 2009 Henrietta Barnett School Theatre and The Bull, Barnet Sydney Cove, Australia 1789. The first convicts put on a play, “The Recruiting Officer”, to celebrate the king’s birthday. It is an experiment to ‘civilise’ and rehabilitate the new colonists. But it is a struggle against the odds; fierce opposition from some officers, bitter resentment towards authority by the convicts and a hostile environment. Does it succeed? ‘…for be it understood, we left our country for our country’s good’

Timberlake Wertenbaker’s acclaimed play was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1988.

It takes place in the settlement of British convicts who first arrived at Botany Bay in 1788. Under the benign rule of the first Governor-in-Chief of New South Wales and in the teeth of opposition from the soldiers who guard them, a group of convicts perform Farquhar’s comedy, ‘The Recruiting Officer’. The experience transforms the convict cast and the producer, 2nd Lieutenant Ralph Clark.

Among the themes of this play is the redemptive power of theatre. The play has 22 characters. They will be played by 11 actors (6 men and 5 women) and all but one, doubles up.

This is the point. Change what someone wears, how he is treated by others, and you have the power to change him. It is a powerful play, but it isn’t solemn.