Scholars enhance UWC life - United World College of South East Asia

Dunia, April 2010
34
Our Country’s Good
I
have always had a keen, personal
interest in Australian history and the
story of the first play ever produced
there in a penal colony by convicts and
marines seemed like fascinating material,
first plundered by Thomas Keneally and
then by Timberlake Wertenbaker. The
play (about the production of The Recruiting
Officer by George Farquar) brings us
dangerously closer to a fiery past and
forces us to scrutinise details of history
that we would probably have preferred
to gloss over; the characters are accessible,
visceral and ultimately real. They all
have problems, dreams, ghosts from the
past and they are all brought together in
a context that creates inexorable tension
and conflict. No one is innocent.
Had you been at the production you
would have noticed by the set and
costume design that we were no longer
in Australia in 1788! For this production
we joined the SS Sirius going boldly on
her voyage into unchartered and hostile
territory. This was great material for
a Middle School cast of energetic and
intelligent students who grappled with the
intense material with astonishing maturity
and found something of themselves in
these frighteningly real, abraded human
stories. The characters seem caught up
in something much bigger and uglier than
themselves. Everyone lives in fear. Everyone
is uncertain of their future.
There is a light in the dark of the constellations
- Our Country’s Good is also
about the power of art to liberate, a
well-substantiated reality in contemporary
educational practices and as a process
for addressing issues of social injustice
more broadly in the community.
“This could affect all the convicts and
even ourselves, we could forget our
worries about the supplies, the hangings
and the floggings, and think of
ourselves at the theatre…we could…
transcend the brutality – remember
our better nature and remember –
home.”
Ralph Clarke
Sincerest thanks to cast and crew. There
were so many outstanding moments and
performances! These would not have
been possible without a competent crew
who gave the magnificent set, provided
by our outstanding set designer, a life of
its own. These would not have been
possible without an efficient stage
and skilled technical crew who gave
the magnificent set, provided by our
outstanding set designers and set
builders, a life of its own. The excellent
costumes complimented the
futuristic setting and further enhanced
the believability of the cast in their
various roles.” Stealing gratuitously
from the last words of the inimitable
Captain James Tiberius Kirk I can say
most sincerely that, “It was fun.”
Photos by Henry Chang and Ishaan Srivastava