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Notes
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Commentary and notes by Bill Naismith. Minor title variations appear in different imprints.
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Winner of the Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright Award and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best New Foreign Play.
Production Details
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First performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London in 1988. It was then toured in Australia in 1989 and returned to the Royal Court, after which it was transferred to the Garrick Theatre, London in 1989, opened at the Hartford Stage, Connecticut in 1990, and on Broadway in 1991. It is also in the repertoire at the National Theatre, Bucharest.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Fiction and Fakements in Colonial Australia
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Postcolonial Studies , September vol. 23 no. 3 2020; (p. 360-370)'The imaginations of convicts in Australia became attuned to the pairing of opposites and this led to strange tensions in their way of representing things. On Norfolk Island the meanings of words were reversed, so that ‘good’ meant ‘bad’ and ‘ugly’ meant ‘beautiful’. This undermining of official meanings produced the argot called the ‘flash’ or ‘kiddy’ language of the colony. Designed at first to keep private sentiments from being inspected, it eventually supported a system of dissident actions called ‘cross-work’ or ‘cross doings’. One word loomed large amidst these inversions: ‘fakement’, meaning booty, forgery or deceit. The verb has more extensive meanings: rob, wound, shatter; ‘fake your slangs’ means break your shackles. It also meant performing a fiction and accepting the consequences of it.' (Publication abstract)
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Travel and Empire in Wertenbaker's Our Country's Good
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: CLCWeb : Comparative Literature and Culture , vol. 14 no. 5 2012; 'In her article "Travel and Empire in Wertenbaker's Our Country's Good" Yi-chin Shih analyzes Our Country's Good from the perspective of travel in order to explore the exercise of empire and the practice of resistance. Considered as one of the luminaries in British theater, Timberlake Wertenbaker (1951-) has produced several successful works, especially Our Country's Good (1988), which won her a Laurence Olivier Award for the Best Play and solidified her reputation as an important playwright in world theater. Our Country's Good is based on real historical facts about the First Fleet's transportation of criminals from England to Australia to build New South Wales in 1787. Shih explores aspects of travel in the early colonial period of Australian history and its relationship between travel and empire.' (Publication abstract) -
Menacing Pitfalls in Looking on Bright Side
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 29 July 2008; (p. 16)
— Review of Our Country's Good 1988 single work drama -
Pros and Cons
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 25 July 2008; (p. 11) -
Caryl Churchill's Top Girls and Timberlake Wertenbaker's Our Country's Good as Contributions to a Definition of Culture
1998
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Connotations , vol. 7 no. 3 1998; (p. 399-416)
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Menacing Pitfalls in Looking on Bright Side
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 29 July 2008; (p. 16)
— Review of Our Country's Good 1988 single work drama -
A Review of Two Cities
1989
single work
review
— Appears in: The Independent Monthly , July 1989; (p. 52)
— Review of Our Country's Good 1988 single work drama -
Cheerful Misery
1989
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 20 June 1989; (p. 128)
— Review of Our Country's Good 1988 single work drama -
Letting Fine Acting Happen
1989
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Review , July no. 14 1989; (p. 21-22)
— Review of Our Country's Good 1988 single work drama -
Serious Slap and Tickle
1989
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 4 July 1989; (p. 10)
— Review of Our Country's Good 1988 single work drama -
Pros and Cons
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 25 July 2008; (p. 11) -
Our Country's Good: Theatre Colony and Nation in Wertenbaker's Adaptation of `The Playmaker'
1991
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Modern Drama , March vol. 34 no. 1 1991; (p. 23-34) -
Theatrical Conviction
1990
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 30 June 1990; (p. 4) -
Courting History
1989
single work
column
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 30 May 1989; (p. 113) -
Playing Convicts
1991
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The West Australian Magazine , 25 May 1991; (p. 22-25)
Awards
- 1988 winner Olivier Awards — BBC Award for Best New Play
- Sydney, New South Wales,
- Bush,
- 1780s