A rejigging of the text including a more authentic portrayal of the First Nation narrator Killara (Naarah) brings the story of a group of English convicts transported to Australia along with their red-coated guardians to fertile life.
In between the floggings and executions, the disparate group attempts to mount a production of George Farquhar’s The Recruiting Officer in a play within a play that riffs around elements of Brian Friel’s Translations and the Rude Mechanicals’ Pyramus and Thisbe while maintaining its own interrogation of colonialism, social injustice, cultural Philistinism and the unifying power of theatre.
While some of the performances may be a touch overripe, it is a welcome revival of an insightful, intelligent and often amusing play. Are we not entertained? Indeed we are.
Our Country’s Good is playing at the Lyric Hammersmith until October 5
Tickets: 020 8741 6850
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