''The Playmaker'' is a 1987 novel based in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

written by the Australian author

Thomas Keneally Thomas Michael Keneally, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and actor. He is best known for his non-fiction novel ''Schindler's Ark'', the story of Oskar Schindler's rescue of Jews during the Holocaust, wh ...

Synopsis

In 1789 in

Sydney Cove Sydney Cove (Eora: ) is a bay on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, one of several harbours in Port Jackson, on the coast of Sydney, New South Wales. Sydney Cove is a focal point for community celebrations, due to its central Sydney locatio ...

, the remotest penal colony of the British Empire, a group of convicts and one of their captors unite to stage a play. Governor

Arthur Phillip Admiral Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first governor of the Colony of New South Wales. Phillip was educated at Greenwich Hospital School from June 1751 unti ...

presides over the colony, where 1st Lt. Ralph Clark, sadistic Major Robert Ross (Royal Marines officer), and

Midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

Harry Brewer have a curious effect on the goings-on of the new Australian colony. As felons, perjurers, thieves, and whores rehearse, their playmaker, Ralph Clark, is derided by authority. He also becomes strangely seduced. For the play's power is mirrored in the rich, varied life of this primitive land, and, not least, in the convict and actress Mary Brenham. The play that they plan to stage is '' The Recruiting Officer'', a 1706 play by the Irish writer

George Farquhar George Farquhar (1677The explanation for the dual birth year appears in Louis A. Strauss, ed., A Discourse Upon Comedy, The Recruiting Officer, and The Beaux’ Stratagem by George Farquhar' (Boston: D.C. Heath & Co., 1914), p. v. Strauss notes ...

, which follows the social and sexual exploits of two officers, the womanising Plume and the cowardly Brazen, in the town of

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

to recruit soldiers. Many arguments are made over naturalism vs. presentationalism in acting style, and in the merits of the theatre itself.

Dedication

"To Arabanoo and his brethren, still dispossessed."

Notes

The novel was adapted into a play in 1988 by British playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker, called ''

Our Country's Good ''Our Country's Good'' is a 1988 play written by British playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker, adapted from the Thomas Keneally novel ''The Playmaker''. The story concerns a group of Royal Marines and convicts in a penal colony in New South Wales, ...

''.

References

Novels by Thomas Keneally 1987 Australian novels Fiction set in 1789 Novels set in Sydney Hodder & Stoughton books Novels set in the 1780s Australian novels adapted into plays Theatre-fiction {{1980s-hist-novel-stub

Synopsis

Dedication

Notes

See also

References