Playmaker [Paperback]

Thomas Keneally (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1988

In 1789 in Sydney Cove, the remotest penal colony of the British Empire, a group of convicts and one of their captors unite to stage a play. As felons, perjurers and whores rehearse, their playmaker becomes strangely seduced. For the play's power is mirrored in the rich, varied life of this primitive land, and, not least, in the convict and actress, Mary Brenham.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The production in 1789 of a prisoners' performance of The Recruiting Officer provides the framework upon which the Australian author of Schindler's List and A Family Madness hangs this rollicking, thoughtful tale of his country's earliest days as England's furthermost prison. Amongst the tents and ramshackle huts of the first settlement on Sydney Cove, young Lt. Ralph Clark (a real Royal Marine who wrote a real journal) auditions such convicts as Ketch Freeman, highwayman, and Mary Brenham, thief, for the roles in the comic drama. Ralph doesn't dislike New South Wales or his duty there, but he longs for his sweet wife Betsey back in Plymouth and determines not to allow distance to diminish his faithfulness to her. As rehearsals proceed, layered life in the penal colony unfolds: provost marshall Harry Brewer is plagued by the ghost of a young Marine private recently hanged for fighting; Sydney's governor captures, and is captivated by, a handsome young native; prisoners and privates steal and deal; odd alliances are formed and sundered; and Ralph is increasingly drawn to the quietly self-possessed Mary Brenham. Ralph's resolution of his dilemma coincides with the play's staging in honor of the king's birthday; both are successful ventures. So is this lusty and affectionate tribute to Australia's raw beginnings at the time of its bicentennial.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Booker Prize-winner Keneally shapes his latest novel from an exotic incident in the history of his native Australia. For the 1789 King's Birthday celebrations the viceroy of Sydney penal colony orders a production of Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer. Young Lt. Ralph Clark and his all-convict cast rehearse the manners and jokes of an England unimaginably removed even as they serve as principals in the dramatic settling of a new and mysterious continent. Those acting the double narrative include the Cornish witch Dabby, whom Ralph owes a secret debt; Mary, the beautiful thief Ralph loves; and Duckling, a dangerous teenage prostitute. As the performance nears, the tangled plots within the settlement are resolved in a startling denouement. This is a memorable tour de force, highly recommended. Starr E. Smith, Georgetown Univ. Lib., Washington,
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Trafalgar Square (November 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0340422637
• ISBN-13: 978-0340422632
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,494,670 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lost in space . . ., January 8, 2001

By 

Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Playmaker (Paperback)

This finely crafted work is one of Keneally's most notable. Portraying a man in an agony of moral conflict over his love for a woman convict yet constantly aware of the family left behind in England, The Playmaker addresses human feelings at many levels. Like so many of his books, Keneally has taken figures from history, weaving a plausible tale of the life they might have led. His examination of the mind and heart of Lieutenant Ralph Clark, during the early years of the Port Jackson [Sydney] prison colony, a is deeply moving account. Far from home, these exiled people face disturbing choices. Keneally compares the founders of the Sydney colony with space travellers, isolated in a dangerous situation with limited resources.

Clark's task is the staging of a play in celebration of the king's birthday. Assembling a cast from the convicts, he's confronted with a range of personalities from house maids to forgers. Keneally's research has dredged up backgrounds of these transported felons; the thieves' guild oath is a particularly fine touch. His real talent, however, is in presenting this material through his characters . Each of his figures projects a reality surpassing other writers of historical fiction. While his descriptive narrative may make modern allusions, none of his persona are dragged out of their original time frame. Ralph Clark is particularly well drawn. Keneally has a special talent for presenting us with an 18th Century man's feelings and aspirations as much as it's possible for us to know them.

That this book has been returned to the active sales list is a testament to its value. It should be read by more people. The 18th Century setting is less important than what Keneally has to say about people. Add this book to your shelves with confidence. It's worth more than a single read.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent writing highly recommended, November 16, 1999

By 

Lilly "navehil" (RAMAT HASHARON ISRAEL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playmaker (Paperback)

I read this book seveal years ago, before Keneally's name became so widely known as a result of the success of Schindler's List (the movie). This book stands out in my memory for the great ability to transport us to a different time, place and way of thinking. I found it to have been very skillfully written. I subsequently read other books of his as a result of the pleasure derived from this one and was not disappointed.This book deserves to be more widely known.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars `Stealing time seems a heavy crime with the judges.', February 9, 2010

By 

J. Cameron-Smith "Expect the Unexpected" (ACT, Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Playmaker (Paperback)

In 1788, the First Fleet landed in Botany Bay to establish a penal colony. In 1789, Lieutenant Ralph Clark is commissioned by H.E. (unnamed in the novel but historically Governor Arthur Phillip) to stage a play in honour of the King's birthday. George Farquhar's comedy `The Recruiting Officer' (first performed in 1706) is the play: the fact that the colony possessed only two copies of the script was the least of the handicaps to be overcome. Lieutenant Clark selects his cast from the convicts: burglars, whores and highwaymen. Most of the convicts are illiterate, rehearsals will be challenging and costuming rudimentary.

There are many levels to this novel. Staging the play - bringing British culture to the Antipodes - provides a backdrop for this period of the tentative new colony. Ralph Clark himself is torn between the family he has left behind and his feelings for a female convict who is one of the actors in the play. Woven around historical fact, this novel brings people and place to life. The play, that civilizing event, is being staged in a struggling community formed by exile.

I enjoyed this novel and Mr Keneally's depiction of this period of Australia's colonial history. Thomas Keneally wrote in the epilogue: `For yes, though they are fantastical creatures, they all lived.' Imagine that.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith