Our Country's Good: Based on the Novel the "Playmaker" by Thomas Kenneally (Student Editions)

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Captain Watkin Tench, RM: Tench is an officer who dislikes all of the convicts for the simple fact that they are convicts. Whenever he has a comment to make about them, it is always a sarcastic aside. He does not believe in the redemption of the convicts, nor in the fact that they can be converted from their criminal ways. He regards all of the convicts as barbarians, stating that hanging is "their favourite form of entertainment" (Act One, Scene Three).

Dabby Bryant: Mary's friend who constantly dreams of returning to Devon. Although she did sell Mary for food on the ship, she obviously cares for her. Although she seems to enjoy the play, she thinks the content and especially her character, Rose, are stupid and argues for a play that is more relevant towards their current situation. In the final scene, she reveals that she has plans for escaping that night. The real Mary Bryant would indeed become famous for a daring escape in 1791. Lieutenant William Dawes, RM: The colony's astronomer, who couldn't care less about matters on earth. He agrees to the play if he doesn't have to come and watch it.During this period, Dabby and Mary rehearse their lines. When Liz tries to join them, Dabby insults her. Nonetheless, Mary helps them both practice, since she’s the only one who can read. Before long, Dabby and Liz end up fighting, at which point Ketch Freeman—the colony’s hangman—appears and asks why they’re “at each other’s throats.” “I wouldn’t talk of throats if I was you, Mr Hangman Ketch Freeman,” Liz says, and the three women berate him. That night, Freeman visits Ralph’s tent and tells him his life story, explaining that he always gets in trouble simply for being part of a group that collectively breaks the law. In fact, he was with Handy Baker when he and several others stole food, but Ketch avoided execution by agreeing to become the colony’s hangman. However, he can’t stand that everyone hates him, so he pleads with Ralph to be included in the play, hoping this will help him redeem himself.

James " Ketch" Freeman: Transported to Australia for the killing of a sailor who broke a strike, Freeman is made the hangman of the colony when he is told 'hang or be hanged'. Despised by many of the other convicts for being a hangman, in particular Liz Morden, Ketch struggles to be accepted. He exchanges words with Ralph in Act One, Scene Nine. He explains how he came to be in his situation, blaming a mix of reasons including leaving Ireland where his guardian angel was. You see also in this scene his desperation to be an actor in the play. Liz and the others are let out of jail and allowed to rehearse. However, Liz has been sentenced to death, having refused to plead her innocence during her trial. To rectify this, Phillip meets with her, Judge Collins, Ralph, and Ross. Eventually, Liz admits she didn’t defend herself because she didn’t think anyone would listen to her—an idea that deeply troubles Phillip and Collins, who want to create a just judicial system. Finally, Liz insists that she steal food, and Collins grants her a retrial. Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark: Ralph is struggling as a lower officer. He desperately wants promotion, and when he hears through Harry Brewer that Arthur Phillip has suggested a play be put on by the convicts, he jumps to set about doing it. You see his transformation in the play as he turns from a man who is extremely nervous and uneasy around women, even ridiculed for not having a woman convict for himself on the voyage to Australia, to a man in love with the convict Mary Brenham. He is influenced, to changing his feelings towards the convicts, by Arthur Phillip, giving them respect in the end, apologising to Liz Morden for interrupting her line in a rehearsal. The real Ralph Clark later had a daughter with Mary Brenham, whom he named Betsey Alicia – for his wife in England. Captain Jemmy Campbell, RM: A follower of Ross. There is great debate among productions as to his sobriety and while he is often played as drunk, there is nothing ever mentioned in the script to confirm this thought. He tends to copy Ross's views on everything though finds himself amused by the idea of the convicts performing a play.

Cyber incident

The play's first production was at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on 10 September 1988, directed by Max Stafford-Clark. The production starred David Haig as Ralph Clark, Jim Broadbent as Harry Brewer, John Arscott and Captain Campbell, Linda Bassett as Lieutenant Will Dawes and Liz Morden, and Ron Cook as Captain Arthur Phillip and John Wisehammer. [1] Lieutenant George Johnston, RM: An officer most famed for his "compassion, if not to say passion" (Act One, Scene Six) for the convict women. The real Johnston lived with a convict named Esther Abrahams and later took part in the Rum Rebellion. Scene 3. Phillip, Collins, Tench, and Brewer are shooting birds at Sydney Cove and they are debating hanging as a punishment because three of their convicts have been found guilty of stealing. Phillip is for reform of the convicts, Collins argues that they should be hung which Tench agrees as he views that the convicts are beyond redemption. However, Harry argues that the convicts do not care about hangings as they 'have become immune' to them taking place. Act 1, Scene 1. The play starts off with all the convicts and officers on their journey to Australia via ship which would have taken many months. Here we are introduced to the brutal and laborious nature of what the convicts are facing on a day to day basis.

John Wisehammer: Transported to Australia for stealing snuff, he continues to claim his innocence. He is Jewish and struggles against slight (Liz) and strong (Ross) anti-semitism. His large knowledge is self-taught and he says of himself that he "like[s] words" (Act One, Scene Ten). He writes a new prologue to the play, which Ralph doesn't want to use on the first night, as he considers it too political. In the end, Wisehammer wants to stay in Australia, as "no one has more of a right than anyone else to call [him] a foreigner" (Act Two, Scene Eleven), and to become an author there. He and Mary Brenham exchange words, literally, in Act One, Scene Ten, where Wisehammer's slight intellectualism is explained. The real Wisehammer would get married and become a merchant after his release. Scene 9. Ralph is becoming obsessed with his wife yet he is interrupted by Ketch who is pleading for justification over his past actions as he is longing for Ralph to allow him to become an actor.' Major Robbie Ross, RM: The real Major Robbie Ross had previously been on the losing side of the American War of Independence. In the play, Ross makes a reference to this, "This is a profligate prison for us all, it's a hellish hole we soldiers have been hauled to because they blame us for losing the war in America." (Act Two, Scene Ten) The fact he feels he is being blamed may account for some of his bitterness. He is a vile, power obsessed man, who intimidates the convicts and believes that the convicts' punishment should be severe. He is completely against the play The Recruiting Officer being put on, and constantly ridicules Ralph Clark for it. One evening, the officers discuss theatre, punishment, criminality and morality, and debate the value of Ralph's project. Major Ross, his acolyte Captain Campbell, and the pragmatic Captain Tench express conservative opinions and oppose the play, which is defended vehemently by Philip, Collins and Ralph Clark. Collins conducts a vote and with the majority in favour, Ralph is allowed to start rehearsals.

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Scene 2. Ralph tells the governor that he wants to stop the play because half his cast are in chains and not many people like it anymore. The governor explains why he wants the play to be a success. He then asks for Liz especially to be in the play so she will be an example of reform and this inspires Ralph to continue. As part of their research, Stafford-Clark and Wertenbaker went to see a play performed by convicts at Wormwood Scrubs, which proved inspiring: "in prison conditions, theatre can be hugely heartening and influential and indeed in prison your options are so limited you can become a born-again Christian, a gym-queen constantly working out, a bird watcher or you become passionate about theatre." The convicts were, at least momentarily, civilized human beings, and they had taken their work very seriously: Second Lieutenant William Faddy: He opposes the play simply because he doesn't like Ralph. His dislike is never really explained, but all of his comments in his only scene (Act One, Scene Six) are sarcastic snides or even insults directed at Ralph. Scene 6. The officers are all together and are debating the play and if the convicts should be allowed to take part. There is a big debate between the characters with strong arguments on both sides yet in the end the Governor allows Ralph to lead the play and for the play to proceed.

Scene 5. We are introduced more personally to the convicts as the audition for the play called 'The Recruiting Officer' and these include 'Shitty' Meg, Dabby and Liz Morden. We see the friction that the convicts have between them and their low literacy levels. Mary is rehearsing on her own. Ralph joins her. Reciting their lines in the play, they end up confessing their love. One night, Ralph finds Mary rehearsing alone on the beach. When he joins her and recites the lines of her character’s lover, they begin to feel a connection, and their fake embrace turns into something real. As they take off their clothes, Ralph admits he’s never seen a naked woman before—not even his wife. Mary Brenham (Branham): A very shy girl, whose love for "A.H." turned her into a thief, she gets as good as dragged to the audition by Dabby Bryant, but is offered a part by Ralph after having heard her read only a few lines. She opens up gradually, but remains slightly naive in comparison to the people around her. She finally falls in love with Ralph and dreams of a future with him. Brenham and Clark would indeed have a daughter, but Clark would leave both of them behind upon returning to England.In the 1780s, convicts and Royal Marines were sent to Australia as part of the first penal colony there. The play shows the class system in the convict camp and discusses themes such as sexuality, punishment, the Georgian judicial system, and the idea that it is possible for "theatre to be a humanising force". It is 1787, and a fleet of British convict ships is bound for Australia, where Captain Arthur Phillip will become Governor of one of the region’s first penal colonies. Not long after the military officers and their prisoners arrive, Phillip discusses the merits of punishment with Judge Collins, Captain Tench, and Midshipman Harry Brewer. Phillip is averse to cruel displays of discipline, but Tench believes in the value of capital punishment. As this discussion continues, the men turn their attention to the hanging of several convicts, which is set to take place soon. Phillip expresses his reservations regarding the spectacle, but Judge Collins suggests that public hangings instill a “mortar of fear” in the convicts that is necessary for a well-functioning “civilisation.” Agreeing with this, Tench explains that the hangings are the convicts’ “favourite form of entertainment.” This appalls Phillip, who suggests that the convicts should be exposed to other forms of entertainment, and when Tench makes fun of him for this, Phillip upholds that “no one is born naturally cultured,” saying that even he had to learn to appreciate things like theater. All the same, he instructs Harry to move forward with the hanging.