Review of “Our Country's Good” – this stirring play about the power of theatre has never been so powerful

Read our review of Timberlake Wertenbaker's The good of our countryabout 18th century convicts and soldiers who put on a show together, now at the Lyric Hammersmith until October 5th.

What a ripe time for a revival of The good of our countryTimberlake Wertenbaker's 1788 drama about a colony of British convicts in Australia and the soldiers who put on a play with them as a rehabilitation exercise. With our current British arts sector languishing after 14 years of underfunding and thousands of migrants living under threat of deportation until the recent change of government, Wertenbaker's compelling reflections on the humanising and reforming power of theatre have perhaps never been more compelling.

In an Australian settlement, a listless, motley crew of petty criminals (some deported for crimes as minor as stealing food) are united by one thing: their nostalgia for Englishness. A suggestion from Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark (Simon Manyonda) that they work together to stage a production of George Farquhar's Shrewsbury play, The Recruiting Officer brings them closer to their homeland, albeit through a world of nobility unknown to the prisoners. (The irony of sexually and morally corrupt soldiers putting on a play about exploitative soldiers is not lost.)

But beyond remembering home, the performance proves to be a balancing, communal exercise that helps soldiers and prisoners see each other as human beings. This is the quietly political message of Wertenbaker's modern masterpiece, brought to life here by a superb cast of British theatrical talent.

While it's funny to see Clark blatantly trying to woo condemned convict Mary Brenham (Ruby Bentall) through his role, or the prisoners arguing over who gets to say which lines, it's the debate between the soldiers over whether art is an effective means of rehabilitation or whether the deportees would be more useful to the colony if they were forced to do physical labor that really drives home Wertenbaker's argument that theater can build community, give meaning, and effect change. As her honorable Captain Arthur Phillip (Harry Kershaw) points out, “A play is a world unto itself, a tiny colony.”

Rachel O'Riordan's direction skilfully balances this serious message with humor. Bentall is brilliant in his multi-role career between the vulgar Meg Long (a character who deserves a reappearance), the bumbling Reverend Johnson and the shy Mary until she has her sexual awakening. And Nick Fletcher's Robert Sideway, a pickpocket who thinks he's an actor, is entertainingly flamboyant.

Wertenbaker herself has collaborated on this new production, reworking her original 1988 text to give it maximum impact in the current climate and giving a name to the character once called simply “an Aboriginal Australian.” She is Killara (Naarah), the play's only First Nations voice, who tells her people's perspective on the foreigners who arrived but did not try to integrate.

This lack of care for the land they have taken over is further illustrated by Gary McCann's backdrop of scorched red earth and burnt-out bushes, which become increasingly littered with rubbish as the show progresses, with beer cans, plastic bags and chip bags scattered among the branches.

McCann's costumes also reflect contemporary influences that offset the story's 18th-century time stamp: the soldiers wear jeans and T-shirts under old military jackets, while the women wear sneakers. A reminder, perhaps, that the corrupt practices of the deporters and human traffickers documented in the play still exist today.

Indeed a contemporary and clever revival.

The good of our country runs until October 5th at the Lyric Hammersmith. Book The good of our country Tickets at the London Theatre.

Photo credit: Our Country's Good (photos by Marc Brenner)