Review Roundup: OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD at the St. James Theatre

Sarah Hemming of FT.com writes: Every now and then a new play comes along that becomes an instant modern classic. Timberlake Wertenbaker's Our Country's Good is one such drama. First staged 25 years ago, this rich, warm play, with its impassioned advocacy of the humanising power of art, became an immediate hit. Now Max Stafford-Clark, who staged the original, has mounted a fleet-footed revival, and the play has lost none of its punch. His production for Out of Joint comes as theatres and companies struggle with funding cuts: Stafford-Clark is a master in the art of witty yet serious provocation.

Aleks Sierz of the artsdesk.com writes: Stafford-Clark's sterling production is warm, appealing and light on its feet. Tim Shortall's set - with its wooden platform, painted backcloths and barred doors - evokes the 18th-century world, and the merciless sun and dusty atmosphere provide the Australian context. The ensemble cast - featuring Helen Bradbury as Dabby, Kathryn O'Reilly as Liz and Laura Dos Santos as Mary (pictured above right) - are all good and double up as at least two characters each, regardless of gender.

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