JM Barrie gave all the rights to Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital. It’s also traditional to have the same actor playing Hook and Mr Darling, which is the case in our production at Polka.ġ0. Originally borne out of the theatrical tradition of women playing young boys, it seems this tradition has stuck around for Peter Pan – especially in most panto versions. J M Barrie always wished to see a boy play Peter on stage, though he never lived to see it occur. They were his last words as he turned down a lifeboat seat as RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-Boat in 1915.ĩ. They were also paraphrased by Charles Frohman,the original producer the stage version of Peter Pan. “To die will be an awfully big adventure.” These famous lines were cut during productions of the show which occurred during the first world war. James Traherne as Captain Hook in the Polka production of Peter Pan.

JM Barrie and Treasure Island author Robert Louis Stevenson were contemporaries and knew each other, hence the cross-over. Despite being in different novels by different authors, it seems that Hook and Silver crossed paths. In a lecture about the character, JM Barrie confirmed his attendance at the school. In the original play, Hook’s last words are “ Floreat Etona”, the Eton motto. To keep with time time-period in our version, Peter Pan wears a leather jacket and has a look not too far away from a young James Dean.ħ. In the original stage productions he was said to wear auburns, tans, browns and cobwebs. JM Barrie needed a house that could be built quickly as these lyrics were sang “I wish I had a darling house, The littlest ever seen, with funny little red walls, and roof of mossy green”.Ħ. The first Wendy house appeared on stage in 1904.

Jonny Weldon as Peter and Tinkerbell as a puppet (designed by Su Dacre), as seen in Polka’s production of Peter Pan. Sue has also made us some spectacular flying puppets, who soar over the audience. In our production Tinker Bell is a beautiful puppet designed by Sue Dacre, a regular puppet maker at Jim Henson. In the original stage productions, Tinker Bell was a dot of light that moved about the stage focused by a mirror.

The original productions pioneered new stage effects. Originally Peter and the Lost Boys could fly unaided, but after several reports of children injuring themselves attempting to fly from their beds, JM Barrie added Fairy Dust as a necessary factor for flying.Ĥ. Fairy Dust was added later for health and safety reasons. By transporting the story to a new era, I hope we can take a fresh look at this familiar tale about growing up or staying young forever.ģ. It was a time when the very idea of what it was to be young or old was shifting. In that spirit, our version of Peter Pan is set in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The script was rewritten and changed each year. JM Barrie was constantly updating the story.

Book peter pan