CCM Mainstage Acting presents dark comedy 'Our Country's Good'

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music continues its Mainstage Series with Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Our Country’s Good from Wednesday, Feb. 13 (preview performance) through Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019. Directed by Susan Felder, the award-winning play centers on a group of 18th-century criminals and British colonialists who explore how theatre can help rehabilitate and inspire.

Based on Thomas Keneally’s historical novel “The Playmaker,” Our Country’s Good tells the true story of Australia’s first theatrical performance in the 1780s. A British Royal Marine lieutenant decides to put on a play to celebrate the king’s birthday. He casts the play with English convicts who populate a distant Australian prison camp to remind them that “there is more to life than crime and punishment.” Few of them can read, let alone act, and the play is produced against a background of food shortages and barbaric prison punishments. CCM’s production is for mature audiences.

“The play throws wild humor up against absolute brutality,” Felder says. “We see convicts and soldiers in their daily lives — all while trying their best to produce a play.”

CCM’s production takes advantage of Patricia Corbett Theater’s wide, thrust stage to create the maze of the Australian landscape. The set creates an "edge of the world" feel, Felder says, where the set and the characters transform — sails become a tent, the sun can change into the moon and condemned convicts become aspiring actors.

Recipient of the BBC Award: West End Play of the Year, the Laurence Olivier Award, the London Evening Standard Award and the New York Drama Critics Award, Our Country’s Good is described as “a tribute to the transforming power of drama…It is heartening to find someone standing up for theatre’s unique spiritual power” (The Guardian).

• 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13 (preview)
• 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 14
• 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15
• 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16
• 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16
• 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 17

Patricia Corbett Theater, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Tickets prices start at $28. Discounts are available for UC and non-UC students. Preview performance tickets start at $15. Service changes may apply for online orders.

Student rush tickets will be available one hour before each performance to non-UC students, based on availability. UC students can receive one free student rush ticket with a valid Bearcat ID, based on availability.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online though our e-Box Office! Visit ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice for CCM Box Office hours and location.

Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.

For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.

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Mainstage Production Sponsor: Macy’s

OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD is produced by special arrangement with THE DRAMATIC PUBLISHING COMPANY of Woodstock, Illinois.   

Featured image at top: photo/Mark Lyons