Youth Theatre Members Star as Convicts & Learn of Georgian Judicial System

Members of the Georgian Theatre Royal's youth theatre perform an award-winning play set in the year 1789 - the year after Richmond's playhouse was built.

Our Country's Good was written by the British playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker in 1988 and went on to win the Laurence Olivier Award for the Best New Play that year. Adapted from Thomas Keneally's novel The Playmaker, the play tells the story of convicts and Royal Marines sent to Australia in the late eighteenth century as part of the first penal colony there.

13 youth theatre members all aged 15-18 and from Richmond and outlying villages, Darlington, Leyburn and Bedale are tackling the challenging work which involves staging The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar within the play. The teenagers have researched aspects of the Georgian period to help them get behind the history and attitudes.

Sammie Hedges who has been in the Youth Theatre for seven years and plays the parts of Captain Watkin Tench and Black Caesar said, "It was a great chance to learn about our heritage". Lara Hamilton who plays the part of Duckling Smith: "We have all researched the characters in the play and what happened to them - they were real people." Amy Stockdale added, "I had to research accents and how both posh and country people in Devon spoke as I play the parts of Captain Collins and Dabby Bryant."

Back row Luke Thompson, Nick Dawson, Sammie Hedges, Mark Williams

Centre row Ben Lacey, Lara Hamilton, Eve Hunter, Amy Stockdale

Front row Wills Vincent, Helena Hadden, Chris Morris

Missing Bea Cartwright, Frances Allison

Other Youth Theatre members - numbering 150 young people from Richmond and surrounding district, take to the stage again on Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th April with Circus Olympus - an entertaining romp through Greek mythology, fun for all the family; 21st & 22nd April with Hope Springs, a play by Richard Conlon; July 12th & 13th Gel; July 14th & 15th Alice in Wonderland.