Our Country's Good

In 1988 Max Stafford-Clark commissioned Timberlake Wertenbaker to write a play based on The Fatal Shore, Robert Hughes' story of the colonisation of New South Wales. She struggled to complete the play following the sudden death of her husband, the actor John Price, but in the end it was a triumph, winning prizes in London and New York. It was revived in 1998, and again now, followingthe death of Robert Hughes and a massive stroke to the brain of Stafford-Clark, who appears to have become even more focused and intense as a director than before. The production is a collaboration between Out of Joint and the Octagon Theatre in Bolton, which was where I saw it on the closing night of Preston Guild - the torchlight procession. When I realised this I tried to exchange my ticket. I'm glad they refused me. It was a magnificent performance, the finest thing I've seen in years.

The play is based on the true story of an officer directing convicts in a production of Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer. This is the final scene, with the actors backstage preparing to step through the curtain, to face their audience of convicts and soldiers.