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Our Country's Good / The Recruiting Officer

Presented by Whistler in the Dark at Charlestown Working Theater

March 15-April 6, 2013

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Our Country's Good / The Recruiting Officer

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Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker “A play is a world in itself, a tiny colony we could almost say.
And you are in charge of it. That is a great responsibility.” Australia 1789. Eight months by ship from England, the British penal colony at Sydney is struggling to find its way. In a new world that resists all the rules of the Old World, a young lieutenant sets out to direct the first antipodean theatrical production - George Farquhar’s Restoration comedy, The Recruiting Officer. But with only two copies of the play and a (mostly illiterate) cast of convicts, the conditions are hardly ideal. Even better? His leading lady is bound for the gallows. Our Country’s Good is based on The Playmaker, a novel by Thomas Keneally, which in turn is based on true events. in repertory with The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar “Unless we could make ourselves some pleasure amidst the pain, no mortal man would be able to bear it.” Captain Plume sweeps into Shrewsbury with the promise of glory and adventure for those men willing to enlist in the King’s army. He has also come, however, to court Sylvia, a feisty young lady who is equally smitten with him, although a little less certain of her lover’s fidelity. And since she’s just come into some money, she can afford to put him to the test. Meanwhile, her cousin Melinda takes her own stab at finding love by playing her two suitors against each other. Filled with dashing rakes and lusty wenches, military maneuvers and lovers in disguise, ladies in britches and dudes kissing dudes, Farquhar’s 1706 comedy The Recruiting Officer is a lustful, bawdy and robust exploration of the lengths we’ll go to win - both in life and love.

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Charlestown Working Theater

442 Bunker Hill Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

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Admission Info:

Introducing Pay What you Want

We assume you have some questions. If we haven't answered them below, shoot us an email at info@whistlerinthedark.com and we'll be happy to talk you through this!

WHO

At Whistler, we strive to create an ensemble of artists and audience members who are interested in tackling challenging works together. And we never want our audience to be locked out of that process because of price.

WHAT

Pay What You Want is exactly what it sounds like. You choose how much you pay for your tickets.

WHY

In the past two years as we've begun to develop our Membership levels, we've discovered that our subscriber base wants to be just that – sub-scribers, under-writers to the work we do. And because we have these remarkable audience members who are able to give a little more to support our work, we are able to take the gamble that comes with inviting our audience to name the price of their tickets.

We all need art and access to it. And it is our hopes that those who can under-write our work will, and that those who can't will still find a home in our audience because of the generosity of others.

WHEN

Pay What You Want is available for every ticket, for every show, for everyone – and does not affect the quality or priority of your seating.

Please note that due to high ticket fees associated with producing at the Calderwood Pavillion at the Boston Center for the Arts, we have had to set a minimum price of $15 - we will be launching our full Pay What You Want program for Our Country's Good and The Recruiting Officer.

HOW

For online ticketing, we've had to make some decisions for you – and because there is a fee associated with online sales, we need to have a minimum price. But we've set up a variety of pricing levels – just chose the one that best suits you.

OK, SO HOW MUCH?

If you are a regular theatre-goer in Boston, you are used to paying between $15-25 for all fringe shows, and between $45-90 for performances at our larger theatres. Our production costs hover somewhere in the middle – we pay all artists for their work with our productions, and while we make a virtue of simplicity, our productions frequently have intricate physical production values.

So, how much should you pay?

We designed our season so that if every audience member paid $35, they'd be covering the cost of their seat and throwing in a little extra to help support the Pay What You Want program for everyone. At $25, they'd cover the costs of presenting the work we do. $15 has traditionally been our Artist/Student price.

But again, the point of this is to strip away the barriers to the work we do. So if you find yourself with a buck seventy-five in your pocket, then that's your price tonight.