Geoffrey Hyland Stages OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD at the Little Theatre for UCT Drama

The University of Cape Town Drama Department will present a production of Timberlake Wertenbaker's OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD this October. Directed by Geoffrey Hyland, the company will be made up of the department's fourth-year acting students, who will graduate into the theatre industry at the end of the academic year.

Written in 1988 by Wertenbaker, adapted from the Thomas Keneally novel THE PLAYMAKER, OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD is set in 1789. In the twenty-eighth year of the reign of King George III, the British Government sends a fleet to colonise Australia. Eleven ships, carrying almost 1 500 officers, seamen and convicts, travel for eight months before reaching New South Wales. The vast majority of the 736 convicts have been convicted of a minor theft and sentenced to seven years' transportation. In the penal colony of Sydney, a young and married lieutenant is in the midst of directing the very first play ever to be performed in Australia. With a ragtag cast of convicts dragged from the slums of London, a leading lady who may be about to be hanged, only two copies of the play available, and aggressive opposition from his flog-happy colleagues, rehearsals for this Restoration comedy are not going well. Yet as the barriers between criminals and military officers break down, they start to discover each other, both onstage and behind the scenes.

OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD will run at the Little Theatre on the University of Cape Town's Hiddingh Campus at 37 Orange Street in Gardens, with performances taking place from 6 - 10 October at 19:00. Bookings can be made through the Little Theatre Office on 021 480 7129. Tickets cost R70.