Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker

**** 4 Extra celebrates the 70th anniversary of London's Royal Court Theatre with a selection of its ground-breaking dramas

Australia 1789: Lieutenant Ralph Clark attempts to stage the country’s first ever play.

He’s set to direct a cast of convicts in George Farquhar's 'The Recruiting Officer', but one of them may be about to be hanged…

Timberlake Wertenbaker's stage play is adapted from Thomas Keneally's novel, 'The Playmaker'.

It met with high praise when it was first staged at The Royal Court theatre in London. The play argues eloquently for the redemptive power of theatre.

Many of the arguments are still current today as we debate how best to rehabilitate prisoners.

At the heart of the play is its language; Wertenbaker celebrates the beauty of language in the slang of the criminal classes and the poetry of the play but she also looks at how language is used as an instrument of power.

Captain Arthur Philip ..... Nicholas Le Prevost
Major Robbie Ross ..... Stuart McQuarrie
Captain David Collins ..... Paul Moriarty
Captain Watkin Tench ..... Adam Billington
Captain Campbell ..... James Lailey
2nd Lieutenant Ralph Clark ..... Paul Higgins
Reverend Johnson ..... Simon Bubb
Midshipman Harry Brewer ..... Rikki Lawton
Mary Brenham ..... Francine Chamberlain
Robert Sideway ..... Adam James
John Wisehammer ..... Elliot Levey
Liz Morden ..... Kate Fleetwood
Dabby Bryant ..... Alex Tregear
John Arscott ...... Ralph Ineson
Ketch Freeman ..... Jonathan Forbes
Duckling Smith ..... Adjoa Andoh

Director: Sally Avens

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2011.