Our Country's Good: genre

Our Country’s Good: genre

Genre of ‘Our Country’s Good’

Play

  • Our Country’s Good is a play. As such, dialogue plays a significant role in furthering the plot and developing characters.
  • Keep in mind the different elements that make a drama, including scenery, lighting, costumes, sound effects, and stage directions.
  • Understand that as a play, much of the communication to the audience happens through visual cues and on-stage interactions.

Historical Drama

  • Classified as a historical drama because it’s set in a specific historical period: the arrival of the first convicts in Australia in the late 18th century.
  • It re-imagines real historical figures and events, but it’s important to remember that the play is not entirely factual.
  • As with all historical dramas, consider the ways in which the social, cultural and political contexts of the time shape characters and themes. Don’t forget to analyse how the playwright deliberately represents these aspects.

Social and Political Satire

  • The play can also be interpreted as a form of social and political satire. Timberlake Wertenbaker critiques the British legal and penal system, as well as class hierarchies.
  • This comedic satire is often juxtaposed with tragedy, highlighting the grim realities of the convicts’ situation.
  • Look for instances of irony, hyperbole and ridicule used to expose and challenge societal norms and structures.

Tragicomedy

  • Aspects of Our Country’s Good also fit into the tragicomedy genre. Both comedic and tragic elements feature throughout the play, often intertwined.
  • The comic relief typically comes from the rehearsal scenes, while the tragic elements are found in the overall plight of the convicts.
  • This blend of laughter and tears informs the complex emotional landscape of the play.

Postcolonial Literature

  • Finally, Our Country’s Good is an example of postcolonial literature, examining the confluence and conflict of cultures following the British colonisation of Australia.
  • It explores themes of cultural identity, displacement, and power dynamics between colonisers and the colonised.
  • Colonisation is not presented from a single perspective, but as a multi-layered experience, so pay particular attention to varied character viewpoints on this theme.