Raun Raun a Hit at Edinburgh

A spellbinding performance at the great arts festival.

By Rosie Mckay.

IT TOOK the organisers of the Edin burgh Festival four years to get Papua New Guinea’s Raun Raun Theatre Company onto their program. They had to wait until the performers were free to go to the United Kingdom, but the biggest stumbling block was the cost of flying the 29-strong troupe from their home to the beautiful Scottish city which hosts the cul tural banquet of the arts everv year.

Edinburgh Festival director Mr Frank Dunlop says that Raun Raun were worth every penny of the £50,000 spent on tak ing them to Scotland this year. “It was worth it. They were unique, wonderful and a great influence on all the other artists who appeared at the festival.”

The 41st Edinburgh Festival attracted visitors from all over the world and Raun Raun were on top of their list of shows to see. The company, which began in 1975, performed the trilogy “Sail The Midnight Sun”, “My Tide Let Me Ride” and “The Dance of The Snail” by John Kasaipwa lova, one of PNG’s best poets.

“Sail the Midnight Sun”, about the ad ventures of a young man called Niugini who follows his dreams, was completed for the Third South Pacific Festival of Arts in Port Moresby in 1980. “My Tide”, fin ished in 1983, shows how Imdeduya Niugini’s wife deals with the death of her son and her husband’s desertion. It has strong themes about wisdom and matu rity. The third play re-unites the family and brings back the dead son.

The trilogy looks at the process of growth from youth to matu rity, and from passion to wisdom. Its message can be applied to indi viduals, groups and even Papua New Guinea itself. It was performed in Pidgin English, which, ac cording to Frank Dun lop, was soon one of the most popular lan guages in Edinburgh,

although the press was originally slightly bemused by it.

However, it was the sheer beauty and colour of Raun Raun’s performance that captured the imagination of those who went to the show. Most had never seen anything like it.

The Scotsman newspaper said: “This is a true spectacle (play is too small a word) of colour, harmony, rhythm and dance.

The costumes, bright and inventive, be decked with magnificent displays of beads and feathers, are worth seeing in themselves.”

And London’s The Times reported that, “The smiling company are clearly having a wonderful time.”

Raun Raun certainly were having a wonderful time. They took Edinburgh by storm and left behind them lasting impressions of Papua New Guinea.

Frank Dunlop had been worried that Raun Raun would find Edinburgh “an enormous cultural shock” but they accli matised very quickly and were ready for anything.

In the first week of their two-week stay, Raun Raun went to a party held by the fes tival organisers for the international art ists. Members of the company joined in, bringing their drums and playing for the guests. So infectious was their sense of fun that in the middle of the party an 80-year old Russian actor suddenly leapt to his feet and joined in a vigorous dance with one of Raun Raun’s lady members. And other Russians, determined not to be left out, took over the drums.

Raun Raun did 24 performances in the two weeks they were in Edinburgh, re

hearsing the entire two-hour show imme diately before each public performance which tremendously impressed all those involved in the festival.

Frank Dunlop, who has been offered a contract to direct the Edinburgh Festival for the next five years, is hoping Raun Raun might return some day. “I would love to bring them back. They were a huge suc cess.” But he feels that Raun Raun ought to set their sights on other venues and that the talented troupe should get government sponsorship.

“They should travel to all the great fes tivals of Europe. Their government should certainly decide to sponsor them. They are very big. Everyone here in Edinburgh is now aware of the tremendous charm and talent which Papua New Guinea pos sesses. Now they must go and conquer the rest of the world.” □

Above and top: Scenes from “Sail The Midnight Sun”.