Our Country’s Good
May 14 – 31, 2015
The Venetain Theatre
253 E Main Street, Hillsboro
bagnbaggage.org / 503 345 9590
Our County’s Good is a compelling examination of the transformative power of theatre, and is an adaptation of the Thomas Keneally novel The Playmaker by one of England’s most popular female playwrights…making it an ideal script for Bag&Baggage to end our seventh season!
The Oregonian says, “It’s a powerful, gritty play…with almost every minute rich with the fabric that transforms a group of disparate criminals into a theatre cast with a common goal that is stronger than their individual needs…You expect them all to be good, and they don’t disappoint…Our Country’s Good is the type of production that is the foundation of meaningful theater. There is value in not only what the story says, but also how it makes you think.”
The Portland Tribune says, “Our Country’s Good couldn’t be better! It is a superb piece of theatre…there are no weak links in the cast…remarkably evocative…it is very, very good and should NOT be missed.”
Broadway World says, “This Bag&Baggage production is a masterpiece – well staged, well acted, well directed…The play is about more than the redemptive power of theatre. At its core, it’s about what makes us human…It’s about believing in something bigger and more important than ourselves, even if that thing is a play.”
Miles from their homeland, a boat full of Royal Marine officers and convicts arrives on the Australian shore in 1789, forced to create a community in a fledgling penal colony. Amid the brutal conditions of the settlement, a determined lieutenant volunteers to direct the convicts—a collection of murderers and thieves—in a comedic stage play.
With no support from his fellow Marines and the leading lady’s imminent execution, it’s questionable if the show will go on…
Winner of the Olivier Award for Best Play, the New York Drama Critics Award for Best Foreign Play, the BBC Award for Best West End Play of the Year (all in 1988) and nominated for 4 Tony Awards in 1991, including Best Play, Our Country’s Good is one of the most celebrated English dramas of the last century.
“…a backstage play with a social conscience, demonstrating the redemptive power of theater and of education.” – The New York Times