Customer Reviews

Our Country's Good

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

One of the more touching ensemble plays I've ever encountered (and acted in). Every character has a moment of introspection, and the interactions between the characters sweep warmly from political debate to screwball interpretations of "theatre" to romance---both budding and struggling to survive. This play also has the virtue of being highly readable offstage. I give it my highest recommendations.

As an A level theatre studies student, "Our Country's Good" is, for me, an extraordinary simulacrum of our current trauma, and the ways in which art can both enlighten the best in us and help us to transcend the intolerable worst.
The last reviewer, who stated the play as `stupid', obviously has no imagination and knows little about the underlying themes and context within each character and the play as a whole.
Rich, funny, haunting, and deeply moving, Wertenbaker has searched history and found a humanistic parable for our harsh modern era: theatre is what makes us human in the face of absolute cruelty.
"Our Country's Good" is definitely a must-read and see for anyone who believes in the ability of the theatre to move and change lives.

How do you begin? One of the most interesting plays of at least the last 15 years, Timberlake Wertenbaker opens up for any audience a stunning tempest of plots, sub-plots and characters, from Harry Brewer to Meg Long. Each character is different and each has their own story to tell, each in their own way. I was first introduced to this book through my school studies as a lot of people are, but the following two years were intensely enjoyable, what higher praise if there is a play that can make A-Levels more bearable? I don't think I could say anything more profound than that as anyone else who has read it will agree. It is also the ideal play for a school production, a cast from between 11 - 23 people and as many males or females as you want. Perfect.

This is one of the best plays I've ever read, with a large cast of extremely well rounded characters, scenes that range from humourous to poignant, and written with a stage sense that is hard to match. If you haven't read anything by this playwright, get it now! And stage it if you can, so that others can find out about it...

I saw this show years ago on Broadway. I was standing in the TIX line with my husband, and the woman behind us recommended it. Mimimal set, especially for a Broadway production, and almost all of the actors were playing double roles. The show is everything that is good about theatre. Maximum impact because the magic happens in the minds of the audience. I'm amazed that it isn't produced more frequently. The theme is theatre as a civilizing influence. I couldn't agree more.

If you haven't seen Our Country's Good you are missing out on a great piece of theatre work. It has magnificent dialogue and the plot is very good.

I have acted in this play at my college and i thoroughly enjoyed it i found that it had a good variety of characters which added to the interesting storyline. Set in convict Australia, its not only a good read its historical as well.

I was in this play in college (also as David Collins, same as another reviewer, ironically) and yet I absolutely hated this play. Not only do I think that the dramatic action is just plain stupid (the structure of the play completely inhibits any dramatic build), most of the monologues do not read at all.
The male and female leads have a barely developed relationship that is almost never seen onstage. The male lead is possibly the most boring priss ever written. Supporting parts are barely examined or are introduced and then dropped (i.e. Watkin Tench, Collins, Meg, etc.) The play further ignores huge character points that were developed in the book, for instance, the past relationship between Dabby Bryant and the male lead. The only character in this drama worth playing is Harry Brewer who nonetheless is still a bizarre character whose Gollum-Schizophrenia monologue is almost as stupid as his lover's "If you live, I will..." monologue. How in God's name you actually build her speech in any fashion I'll never understand.
Essentially, the play tries unsuccessfully to mesh together realism with various Brechtian devices. While I can appreciate the play as something different from a lot of what is on the modern stage, sometimes change is not a good thing, as this piece of artistic pretension demonstrates.