OUR COUNTRY’S GOOD
6) CONTEXT
- The events and characters of the play are framed by two real moments of history: the
landing of the First Fleet at Botany Bay in 1788 and the performance by a group of
convicts of George Farquhar’s The Recruiting officer in 1789 to celebrate the King’s
birthday.
CRIME & PUNISHMENT IN 18TH CENTURY
- OCG is set in 1789
- Britain had a brutal and unrelenting capital punishment system in place
- The Bloody Code
- This was a list of crimes punishable by death. Surprisingly along with treason, murder and
rape, smaller crimes, such as burglary, or even stealing a rabbit could also send you to the
gallows!
- 1,400 PEOPLE WERE HANGED FROM 1751 - 1800.
- The Georgian era was a time of immense inequality, and life for the poor was
extremely harsh because of the huge increase in population.
- From 1779 to 1788, when the convicts in OCG would have been sentenced, pardons
were frequently dispensed and consequently Britain’s prisons were overflowing.
Criminals were thrown in together, whatever their age, sex or crime, in order to be
locked up, out of sight of the general populace. Prison was a place to contain and
control the ‘criminal class’, a way to forget about it.
ACT ONE, SCENE 2:
- Governor Phillip discusses the prospect of punishment in the new Australian colony
with Captain Watkin Tench and the Advocate General, David Collins. Tench and
Collins are keen to erect a gallows, resembling those at Tyburn in London, in order to
hang three people who stole food from the colony’s stores. Theft, as a crime against
property was treated harshly in Britain, but the Australian colony was not self-
supporting and starvation was a reality; in this context stealing food became a capital
offence.
- Tench takes a harsh and cynical view in the play, arguing that ‘the criminal tendency
is innate’. He mocks Governor Phillip’s attempts to argue for education, claiming
there is no chance of redemption or change for the convicts. Tench represents the
view of the general population in Georgian Britain.
- Hanging;
Tyburn; Form of entertainment . The 18th cent place of public execution in London,
Situated at the present junction of Oxford Street and Edware road.
TRANSPORTATION
This idea that criminality was innate to the ‘criminal class’ and that they should be
constrained out of sight, combined with severe prison overcrowding lead to the concept of
transportation.
- The harsh punishment of flogging was a strong deterrent. OCG begins with a flogging
and Arscott is flogged offstage in ACT TWO, SCENE FIVE for trying to escape the
colony.
- Many characters in OCG, were given a ‘conditional pardon’. This meant that there
death sentences were commuted to transcription rather than imprisonment. In ACT
ONE SCENE ONE, the convicts talk of this extreme hardship on the boat.
- The voyage effected all the characters in OCG in different ways. Liz Morden, the
toughest of the women, seems to have accepted it as simply part of her horrid life
story.
, - Timberlake has characterised Mary Brenham as an innocent country girl who qt the
beginning of the play is still in post-traumatic shock from the horrors of this voyage:
Dabby Bryant pimped her to a sailer so that her and her husband could get more
food. Mary resents Dabby for this and feels deeply ashamed: ‘I’ll never wash the sin
away.’
18TH CENTURY THEATRE
- It appears that in the ‘first rehearsal’ scene in OCG, the convicts are conspicuously
bad actors, and it is true that a lot of the plays humour derives from their naivety.
MARGRET THATCHER
Wertenbaker was attracted to such a powerful story, which centrally questioned the importance of the
arts in society and explored the restorative effect of theatre.
Margret Thatcher was the Prime Minster from 1979 – 1990. Under her government, arts were cut and
the whole industry was commercialised as corporate sponsorship dominated the funding streams.
Populist blockbuster plays, such as Andrew Lloyd Webbers musicals took centre stage. took to writing
controversial plays in direct response to the way the government was treating the arts. Wertenbaker
was oneof many leading writers, who used this time to highlight the importance and the power of
theatre and why it must remain in the hands of the people and not the corporations.
THE REAL OUR COUNTRY’S GOOD
- Justice in the 18th Century
- Local Magistrates were often volunteers from wealthy or elite backgrounds and always men.
They would dictate if someone was guilty or innocent within their own parish. However, more
serious offences such as murder, or rape would be submitted to the Crown courts. These
courtrooms were very intimidating, often these trials would be held in Latin and very few
convicts had legal assistance. Furthermore, herbs and spices were used to perfume the courts
bad odors from unwashed prisoners and also helped stop the spread of disease. The cases
would only last a number of minutes and then the criminals fate would be decided.
- PEOPLE WERE TRIED AND CONVICTED OF BASIC CRIMES, SUCH AS STEALING A
LOAF OF BREAD, EVEN IF THIS WAS TO FEED THEIR STARVING CHILDREN.
- Prisoners were already being transported to the USA as a method of punishment. However, as
prisons were getting
full, a new vision was decided. That new vision was to send convicts to Australia; a land at that
time only inhabited by the aboriginals. A deadly land of soaring heat, dangerous animals and
insects whose bite could kill in seconds.
- And so... 11 ships sailed for the shores of Australia from England on 13 May 1787 and arrived
the following year, in January 1788. The voyage would take 252 days. Those ships comprised
of both convicts and also officers, who would accompany the prisoners and try to establish
order in this new land. There were a total of around 1,500 people on board the ships (778 of
these convicts). The Captain in charge of this dangerous task was Captain Arthur Phillip, who
features in the play.
- Once in Australia, morale was low as many did not know
how they would survive. The colony were struggling to feed themselves; the supply ship didn’t
arrive so they were running out of food, the land wasn’t fertile for growing crops and there
were no farmers
