Our Countrys Good Review
Our Country’s Good
The Octagon Theatre, Bolton
3-22 September 2012
Reviewed by Michelle Wright
This is a co-production by Octagon Theatre and Out of Joint.
Our Country’s Good is a play written by British playwright, Timberlake Wertenbaker.
The story is of a group of convicts, who in 1788, are taken to a colony in New South Wales by a group of Royal Marines. Under the direction and guidance of a well-meaning officer the convicts work hard to put on a production of The Recruiting Officer, but with only 2 copies of the script, a group of mostly uneducated convicts, and a leading lady who is about to be hung for a crime she didn’t commit; tensions run high. Throughout the story the barriers between captors and captives begin to dissolve and they discover each other as humans both on and off the production stage… A fabulous story about the redemptive power of the theatre..
In the Octagon production, Ian Redford recreates the guilt of Harry Brewer’s actions in incredible manor when he lives through the visions of all the convicts he has killed. This draws the audience in and was truly a remarkable performance.
The Director, Max Stafford-Clark has produced a fabulous production of this play at The Octagon. Its simple yet effective stage production allows you to concentrate on the characters and the play, and although heavy and dramatic in parts there are elements of brilliant humour allowing the audience to be drawn deeper into the production.
The production is on at The Octagon Theatre Bolton until 22nd Sept 2012. For more information and tickets please go to www.octagonbolton.co.uk