OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD to be Presented at Temple Theaters in February

Early colonial Australia in 1789 is a hellish hole for the English prisoners brought there to suffer. Out of these dreadful circumstances, a young married lieutenant is directing rehearsals of the first play ever staged in that country. With only two copies of the text, a cast of convicts, and a leading lady about to face the gallows, conditions are less than ideal. Based on Thomas Keneally's novel, The Playmaker, Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker promises to be an eye-opening addition to Temple Theater's spring season.

Our Country's Good, directed by Taylor Harlow, performs at the Randall Theater on Friday, Feb. 21st and Saturday, Feb. 22nd, at 7:30pm, and Saturday, Feb. 22nd and Sunday, Feb. 23rd at 2:00pm.

Presented as MFA Directing student Taylor Harlow's thesis piece, Our Country's Good speaks particularly well to the current moment. Harlow says, "The themes explored in Our Country's Good continue to be materially relevant to our current American moment: punishment, justice, transformation, and the role of the arts in our society."

Making its debut at London's Royal Court Theater in 1988, Our Country's Good has won a multitude of awards since its premiere, including the Laurence Oliver Award, an award recognized internationally as the highest honor in British theater. The play also won the New York Drama Critics Award following its Broadway debut in 1991. 

Harlow agrees, saying, "With the renewed threat of mass deportations, the relentless sprawl of the prison and military industrial complexes, and continued slashing of arts funding, I don't think audiences will have to reach far for contemporary resonance."

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