Chatsworth Players Final Show of 2024 – The Last Word Will be the Play

Chatsworth Players are branching out with their autumn production this year. With local professional director Maggie Ford at the helm, they will be performing Timberlake Wertenbaker’s award-winning comedy/drama Our Country’s Good.

A slight departure from the group’s usual classic texts, Our Country’s Good was written in the 1980s by Timberlake Wertenbaker, based on the novel the Playmaker by Thomas Keneally. Set in the late 1700s, in the yet-to-be-named Australia, this gritty comedydrama follows the officers and convicts in the first penal colony as they come to grips with their new realities. When one of the officers makes a request to put on a play using the convicts as actors, it creates turmoil amongst the officers. Should prisoners be punished or given the chance to act in a ‘frippery play’? But the play transforms both the officers and convicts in unexpected and often hilarious ways. Women, in particular, from desperately impoverished backgrounds and battling with the brutal convict regime, find their voices and self-esteem through performing in the play. They become ‘Ladies’ and even ‘Gentlemen’ acting in The Recruiting Officer. The convicts in New South Wales did, in fact, stage The Recruiting Officer under the direction of 2nd Lieutenant Ralph Clark. The characters in the play are all based on real people, who lived and breathed, and wrote letters and journals, and recorded these events, maybe not exactly as they will be portrayed, but certainly close enough to make the point – can theatre be a humanising and rehabilitative force?

As is usual with their autumn performances, Chatsworth Players will be raising money for a charity that relates to the themes of the play. This year they are supporting Rideout, Creative Arts for Rehabilitation. The organisation was established in 1999 in order to develop innovative, arts-based approaches to working with prisoners and staff within U.K. prisons. They’ve retained a special emphasis on working in the Midlands where the company is based. Since 2014 their portfolio has diversified to include work with nonoffending populations, especially autistic adults and/or adults with mild learning disabilities who live in the North Staffordshire region. All monies from programme sales and the bar will be donated to Rideout, and there will be collecting tins at the performances. “We are thrilled to be the chosen charity for this forthcoming production,” said Saul Hewish, the founder of Rideout. “The themes in Our Country’s Good ally closely with our beliefs about the value of theatre in prison. Money raised will be used towards supporting our core costs which include enabling research and development of new prison-based projects.”

Maggie Ford, local veteran actor and director, is directing the show. Maggie, who trained at RADA, has had a long career as an actor before concentrating on directing. She recently returned to the stage after an acting gap of 35 years, appearing in Harold Pinter’s A Slight Ache at this year’s Buxton Fringe Festival, among other venues across Derbyshire. Maggie has a long-standing connection with this play, having worked with Clean Break, a theatre company for women ex-offenders, featured at one point on Channel 4. She also had an input into some of the research for the original production of Our Country’s Good at The Royal Court Theatre. Her varied acting career includes Joan Littlewood’s production of O! What a Lovely War, working at the National Theatre, and extensive TV roles including Mary Shelley in Byron. “But in the words of Captain Phillip,” says Maggie, “The final word will be the play.”

In order to make the most of the text, the staging of the show will be much more immersive, performed in the traverse. Therefore, in a break with tradition, Chatsworth Players will not be performing Our Country’s Good in the theatre at Chatsworth House but instead will take the show to the Medway Centre in Bakewell and Wirksworth Town Hall. As Our Country’s Good is also on the A-Level syllabus, they are also offering a student ticket price for the first time.

Chatsworth Players have been performing at venues around the Peaks since 2008. After Covid they have expanded their repertoire from classic plays to include modern titles, musicals, and Shakespeare. Their work receives critical acclaim (they were nominated by NODA for best play in 2022 and won an award for their 2023 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream). Their shows often sell out, so book early to avoid disappointment Our Country’s Good has an age advisory of 16+ and is running the following dates and times: November 15/16/17 (Friday/Saturday/Sunday) 7.30pm at the Medway Centre, Bakewell November 21/22/23 (Thursday/Friday/Saturday) 730 pm at Wirksworth Town Hall Tickets are £15 general admission and £12.50 for students (limited number and only available for the Medway Centre performances) Available from the Chatsworth Players’ website www.chatsworthplayers.com