The Courtyard’s Senior Youth Theatre, under the assured direction of David Durant, delivered an outstanding production of Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Our Country’s Good at The Courtyard last week.

Telling the story of the convicts and Marines who arrived in Australia, the former in chains, the latter apparently free as the two groups arrive to build the first penal colony.

Based on historical fact, Our Country’s Good explores the power of theatre as a force for change. Told that hangings are a popular form of entertainment, the benign governor, Captain Arthur Philip, suggests a play might be preferable and Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark determines to rise to the challenge, moulding a disparate collection of he-lags and she-lags into a credible cast to perform The Recruiting Officer. The play doesn’t prove universally popular in either camp, variously dismissed as a waste of time and the work of the devil, with its chief opponent the violent Major Robbie Ross, but slowly, the challenging ‘actors’ Lt Clark has to work with - some of whom can’t read, some of whom spend rehearsals at each other’s throats - transform themselves into a coherent cast, learning to work with each other. As rehearsals progress, Ross’s objections to the play as a subversive force and Philip’s contention that a play will be transformative both prove to contain the seeds of truth, with the convicts coming to recognise their humanity and their value.

David Durant’s first masterstroke was in the casting of the play - Jacob Fredrickson as Ralph Clark delivered a performance that belied his age, inhabiting the part with maturity and a real understanding of his character, and Tabby Porter created a moving and credible Mary Brennand opposite him.

But if Fredrickson was the anchor of the piece, he was at the heart of a hugely impressive ensemble cast, every member integral and putting their own distinctive stamp on their roles - William Keetch delivered a bravura performance as Robert Sideway, revealing a talent for comedy and an admirable ability to keep a straight face, Charlie Staunton created an edgy, tightly wound-up Robbie Ross and Jack Spreckley’s Harry Brewer had a well-judged pathos about him. The cast of 16 also included Felix Fletcher-Gilhuys playing both a dignified and restrained Captain Arthur Philip and (almost unrecognisable as the same actor) Black Caesar; Jack Preston as Captain David Collins, Daniel Heathcote as Captain Watkin Tench and the hangman Ketch Freeman, Adam Whittal as Captain Jemmy Campbell. Oliver Curry as Reverend Johnson, Georgia Potter as Lieutenant Will Davies, Jess Wilson as an Aboriginal Australian, Nick Dawkings as Lt George Johnston and John Arscot, Jamie Hutton as John Wisehammer, Eva-Jean Wright as Dabby Bryant, Sarah Calverley as Liz Morden, Rhiannon Kearns as Duckling Smith and Elena Painter as Meg Long.

Several members of the cast are already determined on careers in the theatre and I for one wouldn’t bet against seeing some of these names in lights before the decade is out.