In 2018, Nottingham Playhouse will become the lead producing partner for the acclaimed Ramps on The Moon co-production of Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker. Following their critically praised staging of Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector and the award winning recent production of The Who's Tommy, this is the third co-production with Ramps on The Moon, a consortium of seven theatre companies dedicated to putting D/deaf and disabled artists and audiences at the centre of their work.
In 1787, ships with over 700 convicts on board set sail on an eight-month voyage. When they arrive in Australia, their survival is by no means certain: supplies are running out, the convicts are stealing food or trying to escape and the guards are threatening mutiny.
Our Country's Good tells the extraordinary true story of a group of convicts and a young officer who rehearse and perform a play - Australia's first theatrical production. With opposition from the officers and a leading lady who may be hanged, the odds are stacked against them.
Our Country's Good will be directed by Nottingham Playhouse associate director Fiona Buffini, whose recent production of All My Sons at the theatre won rave reviews. The cast is made up of Colin Connor, Tom Dawze, Jarrad Ellis-Jones, Fifi Garfield, Keiren Hamilton-Amos, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Kieron Jecchinis, Sapphire Joy, Will Lewis, Milton Lopes, Alex Nowak, Caroline Parker, Tim Pritchett, Fergus Rattigan, Garry Robson, Emily Salter and Nabil Shaban. The production is designed by Neil Murray with lighting by Mark Jonathan, music and sound design by Jon Nicholls and associate direction by Simon Startin.
Our Country's Good will première at
Nottingham Playhouse and then tour to New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich,
West Yorkshire Playhouse, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Sheffield Crucible and Birmingham Rep.
Nottingham Playhouse has been one of the United Kingdom's leading producing theatres since its foundation in 1948. It welcomes over 130,000 ticket buyers through its doors annually and has an additional footfall of 170,000 visitors to participation events and to Anish Kapoor's stunning Sky Mirror. It creates productions large and small, from timeless classics and enthralling family shows to adventurous new commissions, often touring work nationally and internationally. Its production of The Kite Runner has had two West End's transfers, at both the Wyndham's and Playhouse Theatres and tours throughout the UK until June 2018.
Ramps On The Moon was set up in recognition of the under representation and employment of D/ deaf disabled people throughout the industry, particularly in "mainstream" theatre and follows on from the highly successful production of The Threepenny Opera in Spring 2014. Integrating D/deaf, disabled and non-disabled performers and practitioners, this six year programme of work, funded by Art Council England's Strategic Touring Fund for the first 3 years, aims to achieve a step change in the employment and artistic opportunities for D/deaf and disabled performers and creative teams, and a cultural change in the participating organisations that will enable accessibility to become a central part of their thinking and aesthetics.
The consortium venues are New Wolsey Theatre, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Nottingham Playhouse, Sheffield Theatres, Theatre Royal Stratford East and Graeae Theatre Company.
This production of Our Country's Good will have embedded creative use of Audio Description, Captioning and British Sign Language in all performances.
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Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company production in co-production with Ramps On The Moon
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