WHO IS LT. RALPH CLARK?: SCOTT ESPOSITO

It’s always interesting playing a real life character.  In Our Country’s Good, I play Lt. Ralph Clark, a British officer in the Royal Marines.  Born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1755 or 1762 (there is some disagreement), he enlisted in the Royal Marines and fought in the American Revolutionary War and was part of the “First Fleet”, which transported convicts to a penal colony in what is now known as Australia.

Additionally, he kept detailed diaries of his experiences of the early days of the British colonization of Australia.  Included in his diaries are accounts of his homesickness for his wife, Betsey Alicia; his despair at the conditions and lack of food and other provisions in the new land in which he finds himself; and his pleasure witnessing the punishment of the convicts.

While all of this information is helpful, I am not tasked with playing Lt. Ralph Clark in a historical reenactment of British colonization.  Instead, I am creating the character of Lt. Ralph Clark that lives on the pages of Our Country’s Good, as imagined by the playwright.  

On the page, Ralph begins as an overly ambitious man.  Someone for whom forward advancement means everything at the expense of all else.  It may help explain his decision to volunteer to join the First Fleet, as well as his choice to put himself forward as the director of the play at the heart of Our Country’s Good.  He wants to ensure he is in the good graces of the Governor of the colony.  Ralph has clear designs on promotion.

The historical facts provide useful insight to the character at this early stage.  His homesickness is evident in the letters he writes to his wife early in the play.  His indifference to the suffering of the convicts is clear as he questions how the convicts can be treated with kindness.  But the historical facts don’t inform where the character goes.

As the play progresses, Ralph spends more time with the convicts as he directs them in a production of the comedy, The Recruiting Officer.  At a certain point, his motives seem to change.  While I’m certain he still cares about promotion, he also cares about the wellbeing of (most) of the convicts.  In his own way, he advocates for them and believes in them.  

To be clear, his arc is not that of devil to angel.  He is not perfect.  His treatment of Caesar, a black convict from Madagascar, never improves.  And the power dynamic between Ralph and Mary Brenham, a female convict with whom he has an affair, is certainly problematic.  

However, the playwright has given Ralph an arc - an arc that sees the character’s eyes slightly opened to the humanity of the convicts.  While the historical facts are helpful in creating the foundation of the character, ultimately, Ralph is more than the sum of facts.  He is a character that grows and changes.  And that is certainly more interesting to play - and hopefully for our audiences to watch.