Our Country's Good Get tickled down under
By Mike Bauer, Jayplay writer
Don't laugh at the title, Our Country's Good is not about the great U.S. of A., but about Australia circa 1788, fresh from Britain's colonization of the island. Delores Ringer, director of the play, says she chose Our Country's Good because the play's author, Timberlake Wertenbaker, is her favorite playwright. Ringer also enjoys the play's humor, its depictions of love, death and fear, as well as the theatrical aspects of the play. "I am not so interested in realism," Ringer says. The cast for the play has a broad range of actors from freshmen to graduate students and Ringer says the roles are very good for young actors to work on.
Michael Bradley, a graduate student in theater who plays 2nd Lieutenant Ralph Clark, says the play is about what happens when you take people out of their habitat and into something new, such as making criminals become actors or people from Britain making new territory in Australia. The story involves governor Arthur Phillip, of what will be Sydney and a play he wants to show for King George III's birthday. Phillip assigns Clark to assemble a cast for the play, which ends up being a cast of convicts. Some of the actors can act, some can't and many of them can't read.
Bradley read the play a while ago and enjoyed it, so when he heard of the auditions, he decided to try out. Bradley says the cast has worked out well. "It's surprising that everyone gets along as well as they do," he says.
The play, which opens tomorrow at the University Theatre, was based on Thomas Kennealy's 1987 novel The Playmaker. Ringer started working on designs for the play last semester with a lot of the costumes and scenery being built over winter break. Ringer says in comparison to a previous play of KU Theatre such as Cabaret, the budget for Our Country's Good was much smaller. Because of this, some cast members don't wear full costumes and there isn't different scenery for different locations. Ringer says despite the small budget, she expects the actors to give 150 percent and doesn't think the crew will miss the full costumes or different scenery. The crew has rehearsed the play five nights a week since Jan. 26 and started dress rehearsals Monday.
Our Country's Good runs until Thursday, March 18. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. each night except for Sunday, which begins at 2:30 p.m.
- Mike Bauer can be reached at mbauer@kansan.com.
photos: Kit Leffler
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