Our Country's Good: Based on the Novel the "Playmaker" by Thomas Keneally (Modern Classics) - Softcover

Wertenbaker, Timberlake

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0413737403 ISBN 13: 9780413737403

Publisher: Methuen Drama, 1998

Synopsis

Australia 1789. A young married lieutenant is directing rehearsals of the first play ever to be staged in that country. With only two copies of the text, a cast of convicts, and one leading lady who may be about to be hanged, conditions are hardly ideal..."Wertenbaker has searched history and found in it a humanistic lesson for hard modern times: rough, sombre, undogmatic and warm" (Sunday Times); "Highly theatrical, often funny and at times dark and disturbing, it sets an infant civilization on the stage with clarity, economy and insight" (Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph)

About this title

Review

Wertenbaker's play remains terrifyingly relevant ... movingly demonstrates the power of drama to change minds ... it's a play that still leaves its audience, like its subjects, transported. -- Michael Billington Guardian A trenchant and uplifting case for the transformative power of theatre ... Wertenbaker's play is unashamedly idealistic but it's not sentimental ... how a theatrical production can offer a microcosmic image of liberating self-transcendence and true community. -- Paul Taylor Independent A modern classic ... bursting with humanity, humour, heartache and passion ... this moving celebration of the power of drama to change lives for the good. -- Charles Spencer Telegraph An instant modern classic ... this rich, warm play, with its impassioned advocacy of the humanising power of art ... huge themes roll around the stage - about art, social injustice and inequity, punishment and reform. But Wertenbaker also paints a vivid picture of an impromptu community improvising their way forward. -- Sarah Hemming Financial Times Vivid and persuasive ... There is love and lust and loss and infighting and cruelty and a few decent laughs too ... earthy, argumentative and alive ... it makes a political point palpable: there's something intrinsically theatrical and implicitly political about the joint act of let's pretend. Our Country's Good reminds us that there is such a thing as society. -- Dominic Maxwell The Times A powerful plea for theatre as a humanising force -- Jane Edwardes The Sunday Times A modern classic ... a host of meaty themes: injustice, crime and punishment, social boundaries, and the effects of colonialism ... Wertenbaker's writing feels trenchant and satisfyingly fresh. She makes a lucid case for the invigorating, even therapeutic powers of theatre. The result is a politically charged piece, and a hopeful one. -- Henry Hitchings Evening Standard It remains an exceptional piece of writing ... Wertenbaker writes mostly unsentimentally and always interestingly, conjuring a deliciously detailed world. -- Andrzej Lukowski Time Out

About the Author

Timberlake Wertenbaker was born in France and was Resident Writer for 'Shared Experience' in 1983 and the Royal Court Theatre 1984-85. She is best known for her play Our Country's Good (1988), based on the novel The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally. First performed at the Royal Court in 1988, it was awarded the Laurence Olivier/BBC Award for Best New Play, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best New Foreign Play and was nominated for six 'Tonies'.

Edition details

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0413737403
• ISBN 13: 9780413737403
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 112