Mary Rose

by J.M. Barrie

""Mary Rose"" is a play written by J.M. Barrie that is divided into three acts. The play tells the story of a young woman named Mary Rose who disappears on a remote Scottish island while on her honeymoon. She mysteriously reappears years later, unchanged by time and with no memory of what happened to her. The play explores the themes of love, loss, and the supernatural as Mary Rose struggles to come to terms with her disappearance and the impact it has had on her life and relationships. Barrie's poetic language and vivid descriptions make ""Mary Rose"" a haunting and thought-provoking play that is sure to captivate readers and audiences alike.1914. Sir James Matthew, Baronet Barrie a Scottish journalist, playwright, and children's book writer who became world famous with his play and story about Peter Pan, the boy who lived in Never Land, had a war with Captain Hook, and would not grow up. Mary Rose is one of the best ghost stories written for the stage. It is the story of a mother, who is searching for her lost child. Eventually she becomes a ghost. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Fiction, Fantasy, Drama, Audiobook, Ghost Stories

Paperback

First published January 1, 1920

About the author

James Matthew Barrie was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several successful novels and plays.

The son of a weaver, Barrie studied at the University of Edinburgh. He took up journalism for a newspaper in Nottingham and contributed to various London journals before moving there in 1885. His early Auld Licht Idylls (1889) and A Window in Thrums (1889) contain fictional sketches of Scottish life representative of the Kailyard school. The publication of The Little Minister (1891) established his reputation as a novelist. During the next decade, Barrie continued to write novels, but gradually, his interest turned towards the theatre.

In London, he met Llewelyn Davies, who inspired him about magical adventures of a baby boy in gardens of Kensington, included in The Little White Bird, then to a "fairy play" about this ageless adventures of an ordinary girl, named Wendy, in the setting of Neverland. People credited this best-known play with popularizing Wendy, the previously very unpopular name, and quickly overshadowed his previous, and he continued successfully.

Following the deaths of their parents, Barrie unofficially adopted the boys. He gave the rights to great Ormond street hospital, which continues to benefit.

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0801l4v

Description: JM Barrie's haunting play about a sinister Scottish island and a girl who never grows up. A soldier sits staring into the fire in an empty, dark house while an unsettling and tragic history unfolds before him. Written in the aftermath of the First World War, Barrie's play about loss and the mystery of life is by turns comic, eerie and heartbreaking.

Original music is composed and performed by Laura Moody, singer cellist. Laura was recently nominated for an Off-West End Theatre Award for her Sound Design of DREAMPLAY at The Vaults in Waterloo, London.

Although this is not about WWI, that particular, horrific global-ish debacle is hugely (no, not bigly: does anyone else worry that trumpisms are flooding the language UGH) influential to this play. Trouser-packed opposite of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys, here we have a girl who is in stasis: away with the fairies if you will. Ephemeral in nature and at turns frustrating then engrossing, I do feel this is unnecessarily ill-forgotten, especially in the Autumn. Did Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell feed off this?

JM Barrie Bill Paterson
Mary Rose Bryony Hannah
Simon Oliver Chris
Mr Morland James Fleet
Mrs Morland Pippa Haywood
Harry Finlay Robertson
Mrs Otery Alison Belbin

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This little-known play by J.M. Barrie has one of my favorite stage directions. Mary Rose is taken by the fairies, and disappears without trace for two decades. One day, she turns up again. She looks exactly as she did when she left, and has no memory of where she has been.

Her husband can't quite bring himself to explain to her what's happened, and at first she doesn't understand. But she knows she's missing something. She looks at him searchingly.

MARY ROSE: What's wrong?

[It is the years]

[ABananie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"...if a photograph could be taken quickly we might find a disturbing smile on the room's face, perhaps like the Mona Lisa's, which came, surely, from her knowing only what the dead should know".

I would usually reserve a creepy little treasure like this for Autumn/Winter but the dramatisation is available on BBC Radio 3 at the moment and I didn't want to miss trying it in this format having loved the written version when I read it just last year. It was 90 minutes well spent and I loved how the music really added to the atmosphere; I hope to one day see it performed.

An eerie play about a girl who never grows up, yet far more haunting and hopeless than Barrie's wider known Peter Pan as it is not through choice. It is said that this darker tone was due to the personal losses Barrie had suffered and the war, but Barrie's stage directions explain that he has been forced to write with his "sinister" left hand due to writer's cramp; his stage directions are some of my favourite parts.

I originally rated it 4-stars but upped this to 5 when I kept thinking of it with warm feelings and looking to find similar cosy ghost stories.

I am not sure if it would actually be considered a 'gothic' but it has many of the key features and a similar feel to those that I have read including the creepy house of secrets, the style of narration and the arrangement between the present story and the past.

I would certainly recommend this to everyone. For the analytical, there is much that can be found in Barrie's messages of death and loss of innocence particularly considering the events of the time, but if taken on face value it is also a simple yet magical, spooky yet cosy wee tale that can be devoured quickly.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

From BBC radio 3 - Drama on 3:
JM Barrie's haunting play about a sinister Scottish island and a girl who never grows up. A soldier sits staring into the fire in an empty, dark house while an unsettling and tragic history unfolds before him. Written in the aftermath of the First World War, Barrie's play about loss and the mystery of life is by turns comic, eerie and heartbreaking.

Original music is composed and performed by Laura Moody, singer cellist. Laura was recently nominated for an Off-West End Theatre Award for her Sound Design of DREAMPLAY at The Vaults in Waterloo, London.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0801l4v

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s something about supernatural stories as the old year comes a close and the days are at their shortest. This one has the supernatural without being a horror story, which is the way I prefer them.
Although Barrie did say it was ‘sinister’ because he wrote it with his left hand 😉

[klau · Rating 4 out of 5]

this play reads as a peter pan spin off which happens in the scottish highlands, and loved it for it!!

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shiveringly good!

[Ruby Grad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick and fairly enjoyable read. But unlike other plays I've read, I'm sure it would have been much more enjoyable to see it performed. I couldn't quite get a feel for the characters of the Morlands (the parents) or the husband (Simon). And I couldn't quite figure out what would have been so scary in the first act.

[Carsyn! · Rating 3 out of 5]

"My old dear, there are worse things than not finding what you are looking for; there is finding them so different from what you had hoped."

What a strong start for my Scottish Haunted Texts class! A quick and relatively easy read, but I know there is LOADS of discussion to be had in class.

[Mariangel · Rating 4 out of 5]

"My old dear, there are worse things than not finding what you are looking for; there is finding them so different from what you had hoped."

[Lise · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange ghost story, which Hitchcock loved. Barrie, who was right-handed, wrote it with his left hand.

[France-Andrée · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little special how I came to be reading this, I was reading Greenshaw's Folly - a Miss Marple Short Story where there is a conversation about J.M. Barrie and how Mary Rose is sad; it didn't take more than that to have be intrigued.

The story comprehends many timelines but it focusses on Mary Rose and how an Island in the Hebrides is central to her life. The first time Mary Rose went to the island to draw while her father was fishing, she disappeared for 21 days and had no idea what happened to her; her parents never told her what happened, she thought no more than an hour an passed while she was on the island. Later as an adult, Mary Rose revisits the island.

I liked how the author really described the setting and how the characters felt; I've read plays before and they are often bare bones, but this was very fleshed out. I'll agree with Miss Marple and say this was sad.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Simon, wouldn't it be lovely if he would tell us some misty, eerie Highland stories?"

Spooky little play about a girl snatched away by a haunted island in the Hebrides only to materialize decades later showing no signs of having aged, a perfect read for visiting Scotland around Halloween. What a strange talent Barrie was. But why this recurring theme about children trapped in childhood? Whatever the reasons, this work delivers up some interesting suspense and chills. Barrie managed to create a situation where you are almost afraid to take your eyes off the main character, lest she vanish. Perhaps this is one of the reasons Hitchcock, who saw the play in its initial run, kept trying to get it made throughout his long career--despite it having basically zero commercial potential. In fact, he once joked that movie studios gave him complete artistic freedom--so long as that freedom didn't include Mary Rose, haha. It's a pity, though.

[ضحى الحداد · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a recommendation from my friend Abdullah and WOW, his marketing was ON POINT
So the story is in three acts(since its a play) and in the first act we get introduced to a bunch of characters, first we have Harry who comes to a deserted house because its his childhood house but there is a rumor there is a ghost there, and then we meet Mary Rose who is 18 and ready to marry her childhood friend Simon
in the second act we follow Mary Rose and Simon four years later and in the third act it all comes together TWENTY FIVE YEARS LATER
yeah there is a lot going on but not enough depth in the story .. my friend words were "it is Peter Pan but the main character is a girl" since it came from the same author as Peter Pan that was really accurate .. I fid enjoy it butI wish if there was more explanation to Mary Rose's story since its the only focus of the play/book .. also,that ending :'(
enjoyed my time with this, Thanks Abdullah for the recommendation

[Jason Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best known for Peter Pan, Barrie’s other works venture into other territory . The famously filmed The Admirable Crichton upends the class system when a ship is marooned on an island and its the servants who know how to survive . Mary Rose is a darker take on the idea of a magically ageless child . It’s haunting and enigmatic as an ordinary is taken then released twice by an island .

She returns the first time growing no older. Aside from when she wants to get married and is legally of age but physically no older this doesn’t get explored much till the end when she returns a second time after years, no older, to find everyone she knew now old. If there is not much of his this now functions In society, it’s elegiac . As the excellent radio 3 production points out, it’s written just after the First World War. On its speculation that eternal childhood may not be a bad thing it implicitly remembers the countless youths who never got to grow older .

[Julian Munds · Rating 4 out of 5]

The logical progression from "When Wendy Grew Up," is this play. There is melancholia in this play that would be difficult to capitalize onstage. The role of Mary Rose is strange to say the least. On the one hand it's an outdated rendering of a woman, on the other it is stagnated character by plot creation. The play's realism and magic make this a wonderful and complex piece. Seen in the context of the myth of the Fae, and not the fairies of Barrie's Pan, this story is right on pitch. But how could it be performed?

[Dave Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the 2016 BBC Radio 3 dramatization of this classic ghost story by "Peter Pan" author J.M.Barrie and just loved it. This is a simple tale focused on characters, not scares, and revolves around disappearances and strange reappearance days, weeks, even years later on a tiny, uninhabited island in the Hebrides, off Scotland. I won't say more, but who knew that the author of "Peter Pan" had such a story within him? Highly recommended, and if you can seek out the BBC radio production, you won't be disappointed. Highlight: The haunting cello score by Laura Moody.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shades of Peter Pan, eternal youth and flying out of windows. There is the requisite haunted house, magical island, lost time and secrets and, of course, the mysterious caretaker. (Someone should do a book on the mysterious house-caretakers of Gothic stories)!

With its heavy emphasis on stage directions and dramaturgy, the play reads like a novel and is therefore rich in background and well-drawn characters. It is a perfect Gothic ghost story with a nice balance of mystery and fantasy.

[Annette Boehm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this book / play's adaption as aired on BBC's Drama of the Week, and I am so glad I did! I am surprised I never heard of this work by Barrie before, since it's so connected to his well-known and celebrated Peter Pan. This is a ghost story, touching and strange and magical. A story of childhood and parenthood and seeking for something for so long that what it is has been forgotten.

[Lauren Carrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite ghost stories. I feel like the ending was different in the production I saw in Scotland

[Michael P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very odd but interesting play about the craziest game of peek-a-boo imaginable.

[Callum McLaughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up firstly because I want to try and read more plays this year and secondly, because my local theatre is running a production of it throughout the summer and I wanted to get a taste for the story to decide if it would be worth seeing.

Barrie is pretty heavy on the stage directions, giving a lot of detail as to what the set should look like, where props should be positioned, where the actors should stand, etc. and whilst I'm sure this is wonderful for those adapting it for the stage, as a reader it did interrupt the flow rather a lot and jolt me out of the story (but in fairness, that's why I've always maintained that plays are much better seen, not read, wherever possible).

So whilst this may not have been the best reading experience, I did find the story, with its eerie feel and air of mystery, very intriguing, and I'm curious to see how they would pull off certain parts production-wise. Thus, it has indeed made me want to try and get tickets to see it on stage later in the year.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few months ago now we went and saw a production of Mary Rose at a little theatre in South London. It was really good and a lovely spooky ghost story. I was never much a fan of Peter Pan but this was a story about a girl who wouldn't or rather couldn't grow up (though she was also a mother!). While alive Mary Rose is a little obnoxious, over-the-top in her girlishness. But her ghost is wonderful. The last scene between her and Harry is sad and a different and interesting take on what happens to ghosts.

There are some very detailed stage directions, some which I'm not sure how you'd convey all the things contained in them (despite having seen the play before reading it). But it makes it much easier to visualise than most plays. I have to say that I found this a lovely spooky supernatural story. Not at all creepy or scary but more like a fairy tale. I fear that the emphasis it had on life before and after the Great war isn't quite there but I still found it a very enjoyable story and most of the humour still being funny today. I managed to find a lovely 1924 edition of abebooks for only a few pounds and that is definitely the way I'd recommend reading it.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few months ago now we went and saw a production of Mary Rose at a little theatre in South London. It was really good and a lovely spooky ghost story. I was never much a fan of Peter Pan but this was a story about a girl who wouldn't or rather couldn't grow up (though she was also a mother!). While alive Mary Rose is a little obnoxious, over-the-top in her girlishness. But her ghost is wonderful. The last scene between her and Harry is sad and a different and interesting take on what happens to ghosts. There are some very detailed stage directions, some which I'm not sure how you'd convey all the things contained in them (despite having seen the play before reading it). But it makes it much easier to visualise than most plays. I have to say that I found this a lovely spooky supernatural story. Not at all creepy or scary but more like a fairy tale. I fear that the emphasis it had on life before and after the Great war isn't quite there but I still found it a very enjoyable story and most of the humour still being funny today. I managed to find a lovely 1924 edition of abebooks for only a few pounds and that is definitely the way I'd recommend reading it.