The Nargun and the Stars - 2009 - Perth International Arts Festival

photo: Heidrun Löhr
Co-Director's Note
Australian children probably know more about what a fairy looks like and
what one does than what a Bunyip looks like and where one comes from.
The Nargun and the Stars puts its foot firmly in the ring to announce that the
introduced mythologies such as fairies, trolls and dragons are redundant.
Australians need to embrace the Indigenous stories that come from the land
and in turn better understand the landscape they inhabit.
ERTH is launching its most significant work to date and it comes from
inspiration that has haunted the company since its inception. I personally
hold The Nargun and the Stars as one of the most influential stories read to
me as a child. It made me want to find these creatures whenever we went
camping or bush walking. I would constantly check my peripheral vision just
in case I caught sight of a mysterious creature scampering away or watching
from a safe distance.
I only hope that our version of Nargun inspires another generation of children
to embrace the mysteries and magic of the bush.
The journey for me has spanned almost my entire life and has led me to great
people from whom I have learnt many more things, especially respect, care
and the importance of story. As part of our process with this show we have
revisited the communities and people that Patricia collected her original
source material from. In her words, ‘it is so important to get it right’, and the
importance of regaining permission has been such a valuable lesson. This
is amplified when you consider that in Patricia’s time of writing The Nargun
and the Stars, as a white author, she was a pioneer who saw the value of
Indigenous folklore as vital to the culture of future Australians.
One discovery we made with our research was that Narguns are female. And
that the place that they are known to inhabit – The Den of Nargun – was a
traditional site for a women’s ceremony of initiation.
I want to thank Aunty Rachel and Aunty Caroline.
Perth Festival has been a major contributor to making this show a reality and it
is a great honour to be part of a fantastic program for 2009.
Scott Wright
Artistic Director, ERTH
Adaptor’s Note
What is wonderful in all Patricia Wrightson’s work is the way she uses
language as one of the drivers of the action.
Her language is dense, allusive, poetic, practical and absolutely a product
of Australia. She uses it in such a way that the poetry of it pushes us to halfknowings,
intuitions and sudden understandings of time and place and action.
So. This may be a writerly preoccupation but I saw the single biggest task
of adapting Wrightson’s beautiful book to the stage as being faithful to her
use of language.
She set herself a number of tasks, it seemed to me. The first was to give life
to the mythology of this land and its original inhabitants in a way that was
absolutely respectful but that also drew newer inhabitants – most of this
audience – inside its net.
The second was to depict how a child who suffered an unfixable trauma
nevertheless found a way to contain that tragedy and went on to build a
new life.
And the third was to weave a spell through language. The Nargun and
the Stars, one of the great classics of 20th-century children’s literature,
is the result.
In our stage adaptation of The Nargun and the Stars we hope we have
honoured both Patricia Wrightson’s intentions and her achievements. We
wanted to create a world in which the folk elements are in balance with the
human ones, where the Place is an active participant in the lives of the people
and where beauty is an integral and unsentimental part of everyday.
Nevertheless, finding a way to incorporate the language, dialogue and overall
tone of the writing of such an exemplary stylist was, for me, the key.
It’s been a ten-year obsession of Scott Wright, one of the founding directors
of ERTH and co-director of this show, to bring this story to the stage. I’m the
lucky person who got the chance to have a go along with designers (sound /
light / video / stage), puppet makers, actors, puppeteers, producers, directors,
musicians and the composer. We all hope you enjoy it.
Verity Laughton
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