Naima Khan reviews the new production of Timberlake Wertenbaker's Our Country's Good at St James Theatre.
On the surface, Our Country's Good looks like a 25 year-old play about the ways theatre can improve lives. But set in the first penal colony in Australia, it looks at the a lot of bulky themes that steer this show just far enough away from the self-indulgent meta-theatre it could be. With the aboriginal population starving at the fences, a delegate of British Royal Marines newly arrived in the first penal colony of Australia attempt to civilise the convicts in their care by staging a production of The Recruiting Officer.
Despite some dodgy use of set and overly sincere harmonising of lines at the beginning, this Max Stafford-Clark directed production picks itself up and dusts itself off revealing a hotchpotch of great characters in a particularly tempestuous situation. In New South Wales in the 1780s convicts are either whores or thieves and warrant no dignity from the Royal Marines in charge. But among these baddies and underdogs are greyer shades of power and ideas about righteousness, particularly when it comes to the women.
There are complex partnerships and loyalties that form which provoke new ideas only expressed privately until a leader willing to take risks insists on this public theatrical venture. While we watch the convicts rise to the challenge and shake off their limitations thanks to the new art in their lives, it's more interesting to learn about the notions they had of themselves before their work on the play.
The show also reminds us about the ludicrous judicial system at the time and exposes how patronising it is to talk about theatre redeeming the prisoners when their convictions are so flimsy in the first place. Instead, it provokes us to consider the ways people behave in anticipation of unfairness. When they can't see their lives getting any better, they become extremely, if quietly, defensive and it hampers any progress they might make – not that they could make much in a system of corporal punishment and sexual exploitation.
Duckling for example, is a prostitute sleeping with an office who loves her. She is resolutely stubborn in an attempt to protect herself and only reveals the extent of her fears when her officer dies. Similarly Liz (played perfectly by Kathryn O’Reilly), one of the most physically and emotionally aggressive prisoners is an expert at keeping painfully quiet when she's lost all hope.
The comedy tumbles along consistently.a lot of it based on the characters defying our expectations of them. So why only three stars? If you already wanted to see this, do! It's a solid production of a great play but it's not exceptional. It doesn't take as many risks as it could, nor does it expound some of the more delicate themes and there are scenes in which you'd be forgiven for letting your eyelids go heavy. That said, the moments of comedy and tragedy within this play are inescapable thanks to some great performances and strong writing.
Our Country's Good runs at St James Theatre until 9th March.
Image by Robert Workman
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