Our Country's Good
- 2hr 45min. Incl. 1 interval.
- Lyric Hammersmith
- Booking details
- Booking until: Saturday, 5 October 2024
- Running time: 2hr 45min. Incl. 1 interval.
- Age restrictions
Our Country's Good description
In the 1780s Thomas Barrett, aged 17, was sent to Britain’s first Australian penal colony for stealing a sheep. 25 year old James Freeman was handed a 14 year deportation for assaulting a sailor. Dorothy Handland, aged 82, stole a biscuit. Timberlake Wertenbaker tells their story.
On board a huge ship sailing for Australia, miserable, frightened and forced to endure a brutal 15,000 mile voyage, were a load of unfortunate British convicts. Keeping control of the colony was a challenge until the young Royal Navy lieutenant Ralph Clark decided the violent, desperate prisoners would benefit from putting on a theatre production to help ‘humanise’ them.
The result is a unique play crafted back in 1988. The stories it tells are true, taken from the journals of the criminals themselves, although some of the names have been changed. As you can imagine the production resonates with modern times, as the UK government’s plans to send immigrants to Rwanda echo down the centuries in an alarming parallel.
A thrilling new production full of meaning for the 2020s
In this brand new production, playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker revisits her original masterpiece to re-examine power and justice in our country. The venue’s Artistic Director Rachel O’Riordan (A Doll’s House, Iphigenia in Splott) directs this Olivier award-winning classic to give it new meaning for 2024.
In 2012 the play was nominated for the Manchester Theatre Award for Best Visiting Production (Original Theatre Company). In 1988 it won the Olivier Award for Actor of the Year in a New Play. It also won a BBC Award for the Play of the Year in the same year along with a nomination for Director of the Year. 1991 saw it nominated for a total of six Tony Awards, winning the 1991 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Foreign Play and nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play. We expect this production to be just as powerful and influential.
