Our Country’s Good: Act One, Scene Eleven Summary & Analysis

During the first rehearsal of The Recruiting Officer, Ralph gathers the convicts he’s casted, including Sideway, Wisehammer, Mary, Liz, Dabby, Duckling, and Ketch. As Ralph tries to begin, the prisoners insult Ketch because he’s the hangman. Duckling protests the fact that her character is Liz’s maid, saying that because she lives with Harry she deserves a better part. Hearing this, Dabby scoffs at her relationship with Harry, and the two women begin to verbally spar. Meanwhile, Ralph tries to proceed but notices that Henry Kable and John Arscott (two other convicts he cast) aren’t present, though he notes that Arscott said he’d be there in an hour. Dabby laughs at this, saying, “You won’t see him in an hour!” Liz mumbles that Dabby isn’t the only one who knows something is afoot, though she doesn’t clarify what she means.

Ralph begins the rehearsal with a scene that includes Sideway, who overacts his part by accompanying every word with a physical gesture. As Ralph tries to convince him to act a more casually, Sideway realizes that his handkerchief is gone, at which point he flies into a rage, letting his posh diction fall away as he yells, “My wiper! Someone’s buzzed my wiper!” Looking about himself, he jumps at Liz and starts to fight her, but Ralph separates them and forces Sideway to continue the scene. Not long after they resume, a convict known as Black Caesar arrives and begs Ralph to include him in the play, saying that he’s seen multiple plays in Madagascar. When Ralph says there’s no role for Caesar, the convict declares that he’ll be Sideway’s servant and refuses to leave.

Deciding to rehearse a scene with the female convicts, Ralph calls Liz and Mary to the front of the group and asks them to read for him. Liz has memorized her lines, but she delivers them quickly and without feeling, so Ralph tries to tell her to act like a rich woman, since her character is wealthy. However, this only distracts the convicts, as they begin to fantasize about what they would eat if they were rich. Soon enough, they get back on track, but Major Ross and Captain Campbell barge in and inform Ralph that five prisoners—including John Arscott and Henry Kable—have run away during the rehearsal. Ralph tries to point out that the play has nothing to do with this, but Ross maintains that the entire production is bringing “calamity” to the penal colony.

“Caesar!” Ross shouts, noticing the convict amongst the actors. “He started going with them and came back.” He then looks at Wisehammer and accuses him of being “guilty,” and when Wisehammer says he was completely uninvolved in the escape, Ross says, “You’re Jewish, aren’t you?” Lastly, he turns his attention to Liz and claims that she was seen near the colony’s food supply the previous night with Henry Kable. “You will be tried for stealing from the stores,” he declares. “You know the punishment? Death by hanging.” With this, he turns to leave, and Campbell—who is exceedingly drunk—mumbles that The Recruiting Officer is a good title, though he adds, “But a play, tss, a play.”