OUR COUNTRY’S GOOD

BY TIMBERLAKE WERTENBAKER

Summer 2021

Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM

Sundays at 2 PM

Ensemble Theatre
2843 Washington Blvd, Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118

WE ARE CURRENTLY EXPLORING THE POSSIBILITY OF MOUNTING THIS IN SUMMER 2021. DETAILS COMING SOON!

June 1789. In the penal colony that will later become Sydney, Australia, a Marine lieutenant is tasked with putting on a play to celebrate the king’s birthday. The only catch? His cast members are the English convicts who populate this distant Australian prison camp. Few of them can read, let alone act, and the play is being produced against a background of food shortages and barbaric punishments. Will this theatrical endeavor have the desired civilizing influence, or will everything implode before the curtain goes up?

Featuring ten cast members portraying 22 different characters — convicts and officers alike — “Our Country’s Good is a triumph … a tribute to the transforming power of drama … It is heartening to find someone standing up for theatre’s unique spiritual power.” (The Guardian)