Our Country’s Good
(Timberlake Wertenbaker)

– Oktober 24, 2011

“Our Country’s Good” is a moving account of the first shipload of British convicts to arrive in the new land of Australia in July 1788. To boost morale and reform the exiled prisoners, the Governor General instructs one of the jailers, a young lieutenant, to stage a play for a celebration of the king’s birthday in the penal colony that was later to become the city of Sydney.

The cast members are illiterate, dispirited convicts with a leading lady who is about to be hanged. Against a backdrop of savage living conditions, the play is staged despite bitter opposition from callous, brutish officers. The script for Australia’s first theatrical production was George Farquhar’s 1706 restoration comedy “The Recruiting Officer.”

The true story is based largely on a novel “The Playmaker”, by Thomas Keneally, who also wrote “Schindler’s List”. This dark comedy focuses on the transforming power of theatre and faith in the redemptive grace of hope and the human spirit.

After premiering at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1988, “Our Country’s Good” won the Laurence Olivier Play of the Year Award, the 1990 New York Drama Critics Award for Best Foreign Play, and was nominated for six Tony Awards. It opened to critical acclaim on Broadway in 1991.

Englischsprachiges Theater

 

Regie

  • Kathleen Schroers (BP)
  • Peter Ferrow (BP)
  • Daniel Seibert (BUSC)
  • Christoph Seibert (BUSC)

Cast

  • Major Robbie Ross/John Arscott – Angus Campbell (BP)
  • Ketch Freeman/Captain Watkin Tench – Hendrik Wevers (BUSC)
  • Black Caesar – Edward Ferrow (BP)
  • Midshipman Harry Brewer/Captain Jemmy Campbell – John Stevens (BP)
  • Meg Long – Margot Nisita (BP)
  • Liz Morden/Reverend Johnson – Bernadette Lieder (BUSC)
  • Duckling Smith/Captain David Collins – Imke Pannen (BUSC)
  • Dabby Bryant/Lieutenant Will Dawes – Janine Lockwood (BP)
  • Mary Brenham/Second Lieutenant William Faddy – Kerstin Feuersänger (BUSC)
  • Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark – Gavin Alakija (BP)
  • Captain Arthur Phillip/Robert Sideway – Paul Ferrow (BP)
  • John Wisehammer/Lieutenant George Johnston – Stephan Lauermann (BUSC)
  • An Aboriginal Australian (Stimme) – Diet Simon (BP)

Crew

  • Stage and Props Manager – Eva Gridi-Papp (BUSC)
  • Set – Anja Petersen (BUSC), Detlev Karsten (BP) Jennifer Schmitz (BUSC)
  • Light Design – Kathleen Schroers (BP)
  • Light Team – Colin Moakes (BP), Tony Taylor (BP)
  • Sound – Peter Ferrow (BP), Sue Seth (BP)
  • Prompts – Lis Mullin (BP), Kim Mace (BP)
  • Costumes – Kathleen Schroers (BP), Lore Tyrell (BP), Romy Pennington (BP), Manuela Schulz (BUSC)
  • Make-Up – Maggie Moss (BP), Manuela Schulz (BUSC), Diana Jackson (BP), Tina Sauer (BP)
  • Publicity – Christine Karsten (BP), Eva Gridi-Papp (BUSC)
  • Poster Design – Stephan Schmieding (BUSC), Christian Schmieding (BUSC), Christoph Seibert (BUSC), Daniel Seibert (BUSC)
  • Programme – Hendrik Wevers (BUSC)
  • Box Office and Ticket Sales – Pat von Funck (BP), Andree Oehm (BUSC)
  • Front Of House – Devon Putnam (BP), Barbara Müller (BUSC)
  • Production – Barbara Müller (BUSC), Anja Petersen (BUSC), Maike Christians (BUSC), Eva Gridi-Papp (BUSC), Manuela Schulz (BUSC), Andree Oehm (BUSC), Hendrik Wevers (BUSC), Kathleen Schroers (BP), Christoph Seibert (BUSC), Peter Ferrow (BP), Daniel Seibert (BUSC)