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Timberlake Wertenbaker's Our Country's Good Essays

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As an actor, outline your approach to the development of the role of
Ralph in Act One of “Our country’s Good” “Our Country’s Good” is a naturalistic drama written by Timberlake Wertenbaker.

As an actor, outline your approach to the development of the role of
Ralph in Act One of “Our country’s Good”

“Our Country’s Good” is a naturalistic drama written by Timberlake
Wertenbaker, based on the novel The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally. The play is based on the first penal colony in Australia in 1788-89. The plot is about the first fleet of convicts to the land Australia. It is about the triumph of the human spirit. It is about real people living in a foreign and unfamiliar place, surviving against all odds.
Throughout the play, …show more content…

His first lines give us some insight into his feelings of love for
“Dreamt, my beloved Alicia, that I was walking with you and that you was in your riding habit- oh my dear woman when shall I be able to hear from you. Thus, here Ralph is clearly missing his wife, thus he should say these lines with a yearning tone, soft intonation and a breathy voice conveying his love for his wife.

In his second paragraph “Dined on a cold collation but the Mutton which had been killed yesterday morning was full of maggots- nothing will keep 24 hours in this dismal country I find-”, this line show us that even the officers are finding it hard in this alien existence.
This line captures a strong feeling of dismay and disdain; thus
Ralph’s tone should be distressed, high pitched and fast paced to show his agitation, wrinkling his nose in disgust as he recounts the vile horrors of maggots in their food.

In his final paragraph, Ralph’s tone has changed again on the lines
“On Sunday as usual… run away”. His voice should become soft toned, tender and soothing on the lines “kissed your dear beloved image a thousand times”, which should invoke a sense of love and hope. This should be in contrast to the next part of the sentence “was very much frightened by the lighting as it broke very near” in which Ralph
reveals

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