AUSTRALIA’S FIRST THESPIANS

Anne Kelly-Saxenmeyer
Mirror contributing writer

   I attended the Quantum Theatre Company’s production of “Our Country’s Good” with my dear, hyper-critical friend, Donald. He had seen the play on Broadway more than ten years earlier, in a lavish production starring Cherry Jones as Liz Morden, one of the first convict colonists exiled from England to Australia. After the performance, when Donald had finished grumbling about the show’s minimal production values (Quantum, which just completed its inaugural year, is committed to producing low-cost, high-quality theater), he was glad to say that this small scale production left a more vivid impression, and managed, with its solid ensemble acting and Thomas Craig Elliot’s simple, bold direction, to capture the drama of Timberlake Wertenbaker’s play more memorably than that Broadway production, with its huge cast and full scale prison ship.
   Indeed, Quantum’s production testifies to the transformative power of a company of actors faced with challenging material. In a sense, that power is also the subject of Wertenbaker’s play, based on the true story of Australia’s first theatrical production, staged by a group of English convicts struggling to build a society in a brutal landscape.
   The convict production, George Farquhar’s “The Recruiting Officer,” is directed by Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark (Eric Baldwin), who initially takes on the project to appease his forward-thinking superior, Captain Arthur Phillip (Michael Ordoña). But rehearsals grind to a halt when four cast members — including the notoriously willful Liz Morden (Elizabeth Liang) — are seized for crimes against the colony and threatened with hanging.
   With a stark aesthetic and an eye toward economy, Director Elliot draws the dissolving line between officer and convict, both unwilling immigrants facing possible starvation in a foreign land. Double casting modulates the effect — a bawdy convict doubles as a reverend, Captain Phillip doubles as the melodramatic Robert Sideway — and simple costumes and set (Eric Baldwin) make character and scene changes quick and effective.
   The cast is exceptional. Elizabeth Liang is an ideal Liz Morden, and her rendering of the brief, cruel history of Morden’s life paves a powerful entrance to Act Two. Michael Ordoña’s Captain Arthur Phillip, a sort of British Yoda, contrasts nicely with his playful Robert Sideway. And in the hands of Eric Baldwin, Lieutenant Clark evolves gracefully from career-minded military man to theater director. Other memorable performances include McKenna King’s frank, fiery Dabby Bryant, Ken Lally’s wonderfully nuanced hangman turned thespian, and Charls Sedgwick Hall’s various roles; his musings as an Aboriginal Australian observer are particularly haunting.
   Part of the enjoyment of this piece comes from seeing a relatively young company working so well together. And given their new status as a community, the play they have chosen seems quite apt, offering proof that whether in 18th Century Sydney, on Broadway, or in the NoHo Arts District, theater can be society’s glue.
   “Our Country’s Good” presented by the Quantum Theatre Company at the NoHo Actors’ Studio, 5215 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood; performances Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 7 p.m.; through July 15. $10-$15. (818)755-8850 ext 2.