Timberlake Wertenbaker's Our Country's Good

2155 Words5 Pages

As an actor, outline your approach to the development of the role of

Ralph in Act One of “Our country’s Good” “Our Country’s Good” is a

naturalistic drama written by Timberlake Wertenbaker.

As an actor, outline your approach to the development of the role of

Ralph in Act One of “Our country’s Good”

“Our Country’s Good” is a naturalistic drama written by Timberlake

Wertenbaker, based on the novel The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally. The

play is based on the first penal colony in Australia in 1788-89. The

plot is about the first fleet of convicts to the land Australia. It is

about the triumph of the human spirit. It is about real people living

in a foreign and unfamiliar place, surviving against all odds.

Throughout the play, one sees the convicts transform from unrefined

brutes into civilized human beings with self worth through putting on

a production of “The Recruiting Officer” (a play within a play).

Through this creative project the convicts not only learn to care bout

a creative product they can be proud of, but also about each other.

The officers are as well are awakened to the fact that the convicts

are not simply savages but people with real minds who are open to new

ways of thinking.

The Given Circumstances for Ralph’s character are: he is a young lower

status officer who is anxious for a promotion, which influences him to

offer to run the play as he sees it as an opportunity to get noticed

by the Governor Philips. He is at first a depressive reserved,

calculating and charmless man, who is also disturbed in this distant

setting shown by his rituals to his wife who he clearly loves.

However, as with the convicts he undergoes a character development as

he grows in confidence, passion and even humanity as he takes on the

project of the play, of which is touched upon in Act One. It is this

development which I aim to show by outlining my approaches to Ralph in

different scenes in Act One.

The first scene I am going to explore is Scene Four, entitled “The

Loneliness of Man”.

Within this scene, we get a glimpse into Ralph’s character before he

has undergone an alteration in working with the play; lonely,

unsociable, unhappy, and to a certain degree disturbed.

The first unit of the scene is with Ralph by himself, speaking out his

diary which is addressed to his wife. His speech is very long and

divided into sep...

... middle of paper ...

...ts earliest

stages. Thus, his tone should have a defiant edge “I don’t see what

the play-”, with a cold voice at a steady pace, incorporating a sense

of power. Here, Ralph is indirectly standing up for the criminals, and

thus showing a growing humanity that is clearly lacking in the other

two officers. However, upon hearing about the newly condemned convicts

and the awful punishment that awaits Liz “Death by hanging”, Ralph

does not intervene, suggesting he is overwhelmed and their authority

has collapsed his. He should thus convey a sense of vulnerability;

collapsed posture, a pained facial expression, heavy breathing and

avoiding eye contact with anyone. This creates a sympathetic audience

reaction to Ralph, for even though he lacks the power to completely

defy the officers, he is clearly affected on a human level to the

treatment of the convicts.

In outlining these two scenes, I aim to show a positive development in

Ralph’s character through his artistic project, from the disturbed,

unhappy, unsympathetic man, completely emotionally disconnected to the

criminals to a more enthusiastic, humane character, encouraging the

criminals and even sticking up for them.

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