Our Country's Good: Based on the Novel the "Playmaker" by Thomas Kenneally (Student Editions)

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Play choice approval is an essential part of the specification. Failure to seek timely approval will be treated as maladministration and failure to gain timely approval may result in delays to the assessment taking place.

The focus of the questions is how the extract might be interpreted in performance to create meaning for an audience. Dabby Bryant is Mary’s best friend and constantly speaks about returning to Devon.On the ship, she sold Mary to a sailor on the ship in exchange for extra food rations for them both however she does care about Mary. Bryant’s opinion on the play is that it’s stupid and she also dislikes her part as she argues it should be more relevant to the situation they’re in. Nevertheless, she seems to enjoy taking part in the play. In the final scene she decides she will try and escape that night. Liz Morden In the play, he is the Governor in Chief of New South Wales and has come out of retirement to do this job. He aims to make the prisoners believe that they are not slaves and have a hope for the future. Throughout the play he encourages Ralph Clark to continue with the play and is seen as a fair and wise person. Major Robbie RossOur Country’s Good is both a comedy and a powerful drama which shows us how we can escape the chains that bind us. Teachers must ensure that all students have sufficient opportunity to demonstrate their chosen specialism (to enable them to access the full range of marks). Arts, Humanities and Cultures • AQA A-level History: Britain 1851-1964: Challenge and Transformation

Details of admissible evidence types for the Working notebook can be found below: Evidence for the Working notebook must be one of the following: During this period, Dabby and Mary rehearse their lines. When Liz tries to join them, Dabby insults her. Nonetheless, Mary helps them both practice, since she’s the only one who can read. Before long, Dabby and Liz end up fighting, at which point Ketch Freeman—the colony’s hangman—appears and asks why they’re “at each other’s throats.” “I wouldn’t talk of throats if I was you, Mr Hangman Ketch Freeman,” Liz says, and the three women berate him. That night, Freeman visits Ralph’s tent and tells him his life story, explaining that he always gets in trouble simply for being part of a group that collectively breaks the law. In fact, he was with Handy Baker when he and several others stole food, but Ketch avoided execution by agreeing to become the colony’s hangman. However, he can’t stand that everyone hates him, so he pleads with Ralph to be included in the play, hoping this will help him redeem himself. Students can perform an abridged version of the key extract if needed (to provide a coherent performance within the minimum performance times stated) but the wording itself must not be modified.have an awareness of how their design will impact on the live performance as a whole. The Working notebook In the third scene, Sydney Cove, Governor Arthur Phillip, Judge David Collins, Captain Watkin Tench, and Midshipman Harry Brewer talk about the punishment the convicts are given. Some characters see the establishment of a new colony just to imprison people as pointless as well as the capital punishment by hanging. From their conversation, the reader finds that a person could be given the sentence of death by hanging for stealing food, describing thus the punishments as being extremely cruel and even unjust at times. Some of the men do not think that the convicts can be thought to be good and as such, they are seen as a lost cause. When the Governor tries to convince the rest of the men that the convicts need to be treated like humans and educated, he is laughed at, proving just how little hope the rest had for the convicts on the island. Scene 4, “The loneliness of men,” opens with Clark reading aloud what he is writing in his diary concerning events in the prison colony. Harry Brewer enters and reveals that the man he hanged is haunting him. Clark tries to comfort him and mentions the possibility of doing a play with a convict cast. In scene 5, titled “An audition,” George Farquhar’s comedy The Recruiting Officer (pr., pb. 1706), gets under way, and the dialogue takes a comic turn as the convicts react to the unfamiliar situation of actually being in a play. Theatrical performance has never been a part of their wretched experience in England. In the 1780s, convicts and Royal Marines were sent to Australia as part of the first penal colony there. The play shows the class system in the convict camp and discusses themes such as sexuality, punishment, the Georgian judicial system, and the idea that it is possible for "theatre to be a humanising force".

Each student's contribution to the final devised performance is marked out of 20. Guidance on devising

John Arscott: John Arscott's hopelessness as a convict becomes apparent in Act Two, Scene One. He says, 'There's no escape I tell you.' His utter hopelessness becomes more apparent when it is revealed that his compass he bought from a sailor is actually a piece of paper with 'North' written on it. Depending upon the delivery, this line can be full of humour or full of pathos. He eventually becomes most lost in the play, claiming that he doesn't have to think about reality when he plays Kite, finding a different way of "escape" through the theatre. The real John Arscott never actually tried escaping and got rich enough after his liberation to return to England. This component is a written exam in which students are assessed on their knowledge and understanding of how drama and theatre is developed and performed (AO3) and on their ability to analyse and evaluate the live theatre work of others (AO4). In the play, Mary is a shy young woman who's a convict because she was caught stealing. Her friend, Dabby Bryant, drags her to the audition for The Recruiting Officer. Mary impresses Ralph, and he casts her in one of the leading roles. She's one of the only convicts who can read. Mary falls in love with Ralph and dreams of her future with him. Captain Watkin Tench The first part of the question is to be answered from the perspective of director, the second part of the question is to be answered from the perspective of performer and the third part of the question is to be answered from the perspective of designer (lighting, sound, set, costume). In the second scene, the author writes about the aboriginals who at first were under the impression that they will continue to live their lives as they want. This was not true and their lives were forever changed by the first British ship to land on the shores of Australia. Through this, the author wants to point out that the native community, those who are often ignored by the history books when they discuss Australia, were affected tremendously by the arrival of the British convicts on their lands.

Liz and the others are let out of jail and allowed to rehearse. However, Liz has been sentenced to death, having refused to plead her innocence during her trial. To rectify this, Phillip meets with her, Judge Collins, Ralph, and Ross. Eventually, Liz admits she didn’t defend herself because she didn’t think anyone would listen to her—an idea that deeply troubles Phillip and Collins, who want to create a just judicial system. Finally, Liz insists that she steal food, and Collins grants her a retrial.Caesar is originally from Madagascar and wishes to join the play. After begging for a role he ends up being Worthy’s servant (A silent part) and beats the drum for Kite. Despite all this, he ends up getting stage fright and needs to be threatened by the other actors in the play. Ketch Freeman John Wisehammer: Transported to Australia for stealing snuff, he continues to claim his innocence. He is Jewish and struggles against slight (Liz) and strong (Ross) anti-semitism. His large knowledge is self-taught and he says of himself that he "like[s] words" (Act One, Scene Ten). He writes a new prologue to the play, which Ralph doesn't want to use on the first night, as he considers it too political. In the end, Wisehammer wants to stay in Australia, as "no one has more of a right than anyone else to call [him] a foreigner" (Act Two, Scene Eleven), and to become an author there. He and Mary Brenham exchange words, literally, in Act One, Scene Ten, where Wisehammer's slight intellectualism is explained. The real Wisehammer would get married and become a merchant after his release.