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Peter Pan: The Complete Play
This is the beloved story of Peter, Wendy, Michael, John, Capt. Hook, Smee, the lost boys, pirates and the indians, and, of course, Tinker Bell, in their adventures in Never Land. However, for the first time, the play is here restored to Barrie's original intentions. In the words of John Caird: "A brief explanation of some of the decisions we took in revising the text may be useful to anyone considering their own production of this version We were fascinated to discover that there was no one single document called PETER PAN. What we found was a tantalizing number of different versions, all of them containing some very agreeable surprises We have made some significant alterations, the greatest of which is the introduction of a new character, the Storyteller, who is in fact the author himself. To a reader of the play, one of its most enjoyable ingredients is Barrie's unmistakable authorial tone. He tells the story of Peter Pan partly through dialogue and partly by means of his inimitable stage directions. In a whimsical, ambiguous and ironical manner he speaks here as clearly to adults as he does to children. Moreover, many of the play's complicated conceits are only comprehensible if Barrie's commentary can be heard in parallel with the voices of the characters. This device also allows us to prepare our audience with some essential background history of the Darling family in a brief prologue, and to extend the narrative at the end of the play to include Barrie's heartbreaking and heartwarming conclusion to Peter and Wendy's story."
130 pages, Paperback
First published December 27, 1904
About the author
J.M. Barrie
2,396 books2,255 followersJames 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
January 20, 2021
"To live would be an awfully big adventure!" 💫
May 4, 2018
As a child, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Peter Pan and the Lost Boys' spontaneity and free spirit, Tinker Bell's sass, the kind-hearted Darling siblings, and the villainous Captain Hook and Smee. Now, I still do, and it's been refreshing to actually read Peter Pan, in script form no less, picking up details forgotten after so many years. Although the book does have some very lengthy, detailed stage directions and descriptions (that almost remind me of a novel!), it does have a nice amount of whimsy added to the plot since this version includes a storyteller.
Peter Pan tells the story of Wendy, John, and Michael Darling, who fly off to Neverland with Peter Pan, a mischievous young boy who wouldn't grow up. The siblings meet the Lost Boys (a gang of young boys led by Peter) and Tinker Bell the fairy, and they have adventures with mermaids, Indians, and a ticking crocodile– all while being sought after by pirates. J.M. Barrie gives glimpses of the pirates' "good" sides, which I believe was a nice, realistic touch. However, I found the story a little darker than expected and quite heartbreaking at times, such as when Peter Pan portrays the fantasy of staying carefree and innocent forever– fit for those wanting a witty, engaging adventure facing the reality of growing up.
Peter Pan tells the story of Wendy, John, and Michael Darling, who fly off to Neverland with Peter Pan, a mischievous young boy who wouldn't grow up. The siblings meet the Lost Boys (a gang of young boys led by Peter) and Tinker Bell the fairy, and they have adventures with mermaids, Indians, and a ticking crocodile– all while being sought after by pirates. J.M. Barrie gives glimpses of the pirates' "good" sides, which I believe was a nice, realistic touch. However, I found the story a little darker than expected and quite heartbreaking at times, such as when Peter Pan portrays the fantasy of staying carefree and innocent forever– fit for those wanting a witty, engaging adventure facing the reality of growing up.
"Second to the right and then straight on till morning!"
January 1, 2020
Per apprezzare fino in fondo questo classico bisogna fare un passo indietro e soffermarsi un attimo sulla vita dell'autore.
Fatto questo si è pronti per partire alla volta dell'Isola Che Non C'è insieme a Peter Pan, l'inimitabile Trilly, Wendy, Gianni e Michele.
Un po' come Alice nel Paese delle Meraviglie anche questo è uno di quei testi che, memori della versione animata, si tende a sminuire e per certi versi a travisare nei contenuti. Peter Pan non è (solo) un libro per bambini, ma è decisamente molto di più. Un classico che andrebbe letto (soprattutto) da adulti.
Fatto questo si è pronti per partire alla volta dell'Isola Che Non C'è insieme a Peter Pan, l'inimitabile Trilly, Wendy, Gianni e Michele.
Un po' come Alice nel Paese delle Meraviglie anche questo è uno di quei testi che, memori della versione animata, si tende a sminuire e per certi versi a travisare nei contenuti. Peter Pan non è (solo) un libro per bambini, ma è decisamente molto di più. Un classico che andrebbe letto (soprattutto) da adulti.
June 20, 2020
Queda un sentimiento muy fuerte
February 27, 2016
2,5 stelle. Il mito dell'infanzia eterna, un desiderio proibito e molto pericoloso. Quando si pensa a Peter Pan, la prima cosa che di solito viene in mente sono le mirabolanti avventure vissute dai protagonisti dell'adattamento cinematografico della Disney, in stile L'Isola del Tesoro di Stevenson. Io per prima non avrei mai associato una valenza così fortemente negativa al personaggio di Peter Pan, come invece questo testo sottolinea in continuazione. Peter è' l'incarnazione del preoccupante fenomeno per cui sempre più persone manifestano un'ostinata volontà di rimanere bambini, in barba al tempo che passa, alle aspettative proprie e della società odierna. Egli agisce sempre d'impulso, segue i suoi capricci, non si cura dei sentimenti degli altri - a meno che non possa ricavarne un tornaconto utile - e non lo fa solo per cattiveria, ma perché la sua paura di crescere lo ha portato ad allontanarsi dalla società al punto da regredire a uno stato semi-primitivo. In questo senso, Barrie è' stato una voce anticipatrice di quello che sarebbe effettivamente successo poco meno di un secolo dopo. Il secondo aspetto che mi ha spiazzata è' certamente la forma dello scritto, che si presenta come testo teatrale: dall'introduzione sono venuta a conoscenza del fatto che è da questa versione originale per il teatro che lo stesso Barrie, anni più tardi, decise di trasporre in prosa le avventure del suo personaggio più celebre. In quanto testo teatrale, posso affermare con sicurezza che la resa scenica sulla base delle indicazioni dell'autore è' forse tra le più macchinose e irrealizzabili mai ideate; si richiede di creare sul palco navi, alberi e case su più livelli, specchi d'acqua, inseguimenti e piedi e in barca, figure volanti...con un numero davvero elevatissimo di personaggi che nella maggior parte dei casi sono solo comparse. I personaggi principali agiscono più che parlare, e le note riguardanti l'ambiente e i movimenti superano di gran lunga le parti dedicate ai dialoghi, cosa che ha contribuito a rendere la lettura molto lenta e discontinua. Non posso affermare che sia una lettura interessante dal punto di vista della trama (per una volta rendiamo merito al lavoro della Disney), ma in quanto a messaggio e idea di fondo nulla da eccepire; ho comunque apprezzato l'aver approfondito un po' quel che c'è dietro questo classico della letteratura per ragazzi, molto meno conosciuto di tanti altri.
July 18, 2014
My favorite play of all time. One of the best quotes of the book is: "one girl is worth twenty boys" and I think that's enough to read the story for.
October 9, 2023
I think every rendition I’ve seen of Peter Pan is better than the actual original script. There’s an obvious spark of something in it, but it hasn’t found it’s feet yet. It reads like an early draft of the story (which I guess it kind of is).
October 7, 2023
I didn't know anything about this except a computer game that I played as a kid lol
October 10, 2024
I don’t like fantasy but I do love Peter Pan
July 28, 2017
Lettura perturbante
Questa non è l'edizione narrativa più nota dell'opera (edizione che io, tra parentesi, non ho ancora mai letto) bensì il testo teatrale originario che venne portato in scena a Londra per la prima volta nel dicembre 1904, e successivamente rielaborato da Barrie in forma di romanzo.
Questo passaggio da l'una a l'altra forma implicò diverse modifiche, tra cui soprattutto l'attenuazione della portata sottilmente "demoniaca" della figura di Peter Pan, che nella prima stesura in special modo è straordinariamente complessa e a suo modo tragica, inquietante, feroce, legata molto più alla morte («To die will be an awfully big adventure!») che alla vita, che è temuta e categoricamente - quasi "autisticamente", mi verrebbe da dire - fuggita.
Peter è, in fin dei conti, un reietto: condannato alla solitudine, all'anaffettività, alla non appartenenza, se anche Wendy, la cara e indulgente Wendy, alla fine «does not see him quite so clearly now as she used to do.»
Illuminante l'introduzione di Francesco M. Cataluccio, che tira in ballo Freud, il dio Pan, Günter Grass e William Goldwin, malattia dell'anima, rifiuto della realtà.
Un'opera geniale, entusiasmante, profondamente perturbante. Altro che fiabetta sulle gioie dell'essere bambini a oltranza; altro che mito positivo dell'infanzia; altro che!
PS: a costo di passare per la monomaniaca che sono, debbo specificare che l'esistenza di questa versione originaria di Peter Pan mi è stata svelata da A.S. Byatt (sempre lei) che nel suo splendido Libro dei bambini (sempre lui) racconta della prima teatrale al Duke of York's Theatre di Londra a cui prendono parte, in qualità di pubblico, la maggior parte dei personaggi; e ce n'è uno, in particolare, che col senno di poi mi rendo conto incarnare alla perfezione questa prima versione di Peter, e per il quale lo spettacolo avrà conseguenze cruciali... Ma questa, come si dice, è un'altra storia. :)
Questa non è l'edizione narrativa più nota dell'opera (edizione che io, tra parentesi, non ho ancora mai letto) bensì il testo teatrale originario che venne portato in scena a Londra per la prima volta nel dicembre 1904, e successivamente rielaborato da Barrie in forma di romanzo.
Questo passaggio da l'una a l'altra forma implicò diverse modifiche, tra cui soprattutto l'attenuazione della portata sottilmente "demoniaca" della figura di Peter Pan, che nella prima stesura in special modo è straordinariamente complessa e a suo modo tragica, inquietante, feroce, legata molto più alla morte («To die will be an awfully big adventure!») che alla vita, che è temuta e categoricamente - quasi "autisticamente", mi verrebbe da dire - fuggita.
Peter è, in fin dei conti, un reietto: condannato alla solitudine, all'anaffettività, alla non appartenenza, se anche Wendy, la cara e indulgente Wendy, alla fine «does not see him quite so clearly now as she used to do.»
Illuminante l'introduzione di Francesco M. Cataluccio, che tira in ballo Freud, il dio Pan, Günter Grass e William Goldwin, malattia dell'anima, rifiuto della realtà.
Un'opera geniale, entusiasmante, profondamente perturbante. Altro che fiabetta sulle gioie dell'essere bambini a oltranza; altro che mito positivo dell'infanzia; altro che!
PS: a costo di passare per la monomaniaca che sono, debbo specificare che l'esistenza di questa versione originaria di Peter Pan mi è stata svelata da A.S. Byatt (sempre lei) che nel suo splendido Libro dei bambini (sempre lui) racconta della prima teatrale al Duke of York's Theatre di Londra a cui prendono parte, in qualità di pubblico, la maggior parte dei personaggi; e ce n'è uno, in particolare, che col senno di poi mi rendo conto incarnare alla perfezione questa prima versione di Peter, e per il quale lo spettacolo avrà conseguenze cruciali... Ma questa, come si dice, è un'altra storia. :)
January 27, 2015
Did not read this edition, but this was the only one I found with just the play and the same amount of pages as the edition I read. I read it in the Peter Pan and Other Plays: The Admirable Crichton; Peter Pan; When Wendy Grew Up; What Every Woman Knows; Mary Rose edition, which consists of several plays which I did not (and have no intention) of reading.
Not going to review this either, as I'm reading it for class, but a few points:
1. "To die will be an awfully big adventure."
2. The ending killed me. Nearly. Well. Very much.
3. Like this Jane much better than I like the Disney-Jane.
Not going to review this either, as I'm reading it for class, but a few points:
1. "To die will be an awfully big adventure."
2. The ending killed me. Nearly. Well. Very much.
3. Like this Jane much better than I like the Disney-Jane.
January 27, 2015
Non ho amato la forma teatrale del testo. Capisco che è stato concepito così, ma leggerlo a volte mi è un po' pesato, avrei preferito vederlo su un palco!
Altra cosa che ho odiato è stata la traduzione italiana. Non trovo il senso di tradurre e cambiare i nomi di alcuni personaggi principali! I fratelli di Wendy sono Michael e John, non Michele e Gianni! E vogliamo parlare di Giacomo Uncino?? A questo punto avrebbero fatto prima a chiamare il libro "Pietro Padella" -.-"
Diciamo che è stata una lettura carina, ma sono decisamente più fan del cartone animato!
Altra cosa che ho odiato è stata la traduzione italiana. Non trovo il senso di tradurre e cambiare i nomi di alcuni personaggi principali! I fratelli di Wendy sono Michael e John, non Michele e Gianni! E vogliamo parlare di Giacomo Uncino?? A questo punto avrebbero fatto prima a chiamare il libro "Pietro Padella" -.-"
Diciamo che è stata una lettura carina, ma sono decisamente più fan del cartone animato!
April 30, 2014
All I want to do now is watch the Mary Martin version on VHS. I had so many memories of this story and the play flood back into me while reading. Some of the dialogue may be a over dramatic and precious, but it tugs at the heartstrings and fills you with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. And I have never seen such overly detail stage directions--not just stage directions but the internal monologues of the characters as well. Barrie knew how to craft a good story.
June 12, 2017
"To die will be an awfully big adventure" ~ Peter Pan
As always I give Peter Pan the highest rating.
The stage direction was phenomenal for this play giving context to the finest details and giving a perfect description of the scenery that each act is set in. as always the ending made me cry about missing my innocent childhood but we all must grow up.
I went and saw the National Theatre Live production of Peter Pan yesterday and it was fantastic.
As always I give Peter Pan the highest rating.
The stage direction was phenomenal for this play giving context to the finest details and giving a perfect description of the scenery that each act is set in. as always the ending made me cry about missing my innocent childhood but we all must grow up.
I went and saw the National Theatre Live production of Peter Pan yesterday and it was fantastic.
June 16, 2014
I really enjoyed reading the original version of "Peter Pan." The stage directions in this script are unlike any I've ever read before. They are so elaborate and detailed. Some would even believe that all of these details are not crucial to the actual show, but it is great to read Barrie's thoughts!
February 22, 2018
*See review of Peter Pan
Additional note: Barrie doesn't seem to understand the concept of stage directions being short or not being essential to the plot. It's much better suited to be a novel.
Additional note: Barrie doesn't seem to understand the concept of stage directions being short or not being essential to the plot. It's much better suited to be a novel.
November 2, 2017
I loved this, but I have no idea how it would actually work. It seems like a play meant to be read.
Read
November 21, 2025The thing about Peter Pan is that it’s weird. This is what surprised me most when I read it on the cusp of age 14–what a sad, strange, adult story it is. In many ways I think this story is better or more interesting than what’s written. Peter Pan the novel undoes much of what I thought was interesting about the ambiguities of the play, unfortunately, but there is an energy here that audiences felt immediately. Barrie clearly spent a lot of time around young boys, and he loved them, and of course he was one at some point. The story is from a young boy’s point of view, even though the boys turn out to be the most boring characters. The pirates are pirates as turn-of-the-century English boys imagined them, and so are the Indians, and so are the girls. Of these, the pirates are certainly the least objectionable.
It is very frustrating that Wendy, the character who changes the most over the course of the play, is always playing house. Always talking the boys into playing house with her. Always yearning after Peter so that I’m confused about her age here. Mrs. Darling wanted desperately to be a mother and enjoys it above all else, so I guess no surprise that’s Wendy’s attitude when she plays pretend. But the fact that Mrs. Darling allows her to return to Never Land to do Peter’s spring cleaning–at which permission she rejoices–is very disappointing. Barry never liked playing house, and he vents his frustration in Wendy’s single-minded persistence, a character with the annoying desires of all the women in Barry’s life. But that essentialism is unfair, most poignantly to girl children.
The genius of Peter Pan is Peter Pan. “I am youth, I am joy,” he says, the boy who won’t grow up, who can’t be beaten. The moments of insight into his psychology, Barrie’s apparition of boyhood, are always the most interesting and hit the hardest. The fact that he might BE Captain Hook after all. The fact that he’s been abandoned and replaced by his mother. The moment when he realizes–what? that maybe he risks getting too fond of Wendy?–when he sees Mrs. Darling cry, and chooses to open the window again, not to make them believe that what happened to him has happened to them as well. There is something crucial in the casual violence of make-believe, never understanding consequences. Except for the moments when maybe he does. Youth and joy cannot be beat, except of course they are, regularly. This is the trick of Peter Pan, who flies back and forth between make-believe and reality.
When I read Peter Pan for the first time, I was leaving childhood behind–really already had–and I was not happy about it. I was clinging to the shreds. I saw no appeal whatsoever in the narratives of adolescence as they were offered to me (Peter Pan certainly did nothing to change that–poor Wendy!). I was nostalgic already, a young 14 and an old one. Mostly I didn’t want things to change and they had anyway. I was on the upside of a rough year. But I do think Peter Pan made me dimly aware of the darker side of pretending not to grow up. That there are sacrifices involved in stasis as well as change. That to live might be the greater adventure.
This was something Barrie understood very well, as it ruined many of his adult relationships. “Boys can’t love,” he claimed of himself and his miserable marriage, and I think most scholars have concluded that he just couldn’t get it up. But Peter Pan is so clear about the real cruelty of children, that they take love as their due but are careless of their parents’ feelings, and I think perhaps Barrie’s self-diagnosed trouble had to do with this inability to take responsibility for other people’s emotional lives. Not the fun part of growing up, Jim, but it does have its rewards. Peter Pan feels to me like an unfinished story, which taps into that great sadness of change but never quite makes it to the other side. Never quite grasps what Wendy, eldest daughter, could tell you about flying back and forth between Neverland and the nursery.
It is very frustrating that Wendy, the character who changes the most over the course of the play, is always playing house. Always talking the boys into playing house with her. Always yearning after Peter so that I’m confused about her age here. Mrs. Darling wanted desperately to be a mother and enjoys it above all else, so I guess no surprise that’s Wendy’s attitude when she plays pretend. But the fact that Mrs. Darling allows her to return to Never Land to do Peter’s spring cleaning–at which permission she rejoices–is very disappointing. Barry never liked playing house, and he vents his frustration in Wendy’s single-minded persistence, a character with the annoying desires of all the women in Barry’s life. But that essentialism is unfair, most poignantly to girl children.
The genius of Peter Pan is Peter Pan. “I am youth, I am joy,” he says, the boy who won’t grow up, who can’t be beaten. The moments of insight into his psychology, Barrie’s apparition of boyhood, are always the most interesting and hit the hardest. The fact that he might BE Captain Hook after all. The fact that he’s been abandoned and replaced by his mother. The moment when he realizes–what? that maybe he risks getting too fond of Wendy?–when he sees Mrs. Darling cry, and chooses to open the window again, not to make them believe that what happened to him has happened to them as well. There is something crucial in the casual violence of make-believe, never understanding consequences. Except for the moments when maybe he does. Youth and joy cannot be beat, except of course they are, regularly. This is the trick of Peter Pan, who flies back and forth between make-believe and reality.
When I read Peter Pan for the first time, I was leaving childhood behind–really already had–and I was not happy about it. I was clinging to the shreds. I saw no appeal whatsoever in the narratives of adolescence as they were offered to me (Peter Pan certainly did nothing to change that–poor Wendy!). I was nostalgic already, a young 14 and an old one. Mostly I didn’t want things to change and they had anyway. I was on the upside of a rough year. But I do think Peter Pan made me dimly aware of the darker side of pretending not to grow up. That there are sacrifices involved in stasis as well as change. That to live might be the greater adventure.
This was something Barrie understood very well, as it ruined many of his adult relationships. “Boys can’t love,” he claimed of himself and his miserable marriage, and I think most scholars have concluded that he just couldn’t get it up. But Peter Pan is so clear about the real cruelty of children, that they take love as their due but are careless of their parents’ feelings, and I think perhaps Barrie’s self-diagnosed trouble had to do with this inability to take responsibility for other people’s emotional lives. Not the fun part of growing up, Jim, but it does have its rewards. Peter Pan feels to me like an unfinished story, which taps into that great sadness of change but never quite makes it to the other side. Never quite grasps what Wendy, eldest daughter, could tell you about flying back and forth between Neverland and the nursery.
October 3, 2022
I’ve been watching a series on TV about the golden age of children literature – ‘Wonderland: From JM Barrie to JRR Tolkien’. I had thought that I had definitely read all the books mentioned, though many, many years ago. However, my memories of the stories did not always tally with the TV program. Of course, now I am an adult, I would view things differently – but it was more than that. The program talked about the darkness in each of the authors’ lives, that came out in the books. I remembered ‘Peter Pan’ as being fun, full of adventure – not dark at all. Maybe it is only the Disney film I remember. So, I had to reread it (or maybe read it properly for the first time).
The only copy we had at home was a beautiful Folio Society book, with illustrations by Paula Rego (I couldn’t find that on Goodreads). It is the play, rather than the novel – the first telling of Peter Pan, which Barrie later revised and turned into a novel.
It took me a while to read it – mainly because I just could not get into it, and found much of it quite boring. Language has changed, as has society, and while I don’t want to condemn a book by applying current attitudes to something written a century ago, there were parts that I now found uncomfortable – primarily the depiction of the ‘redskins’ and calling them pickaninnies, the assignation of all housekeeping to Wendy, and the pretty much useless father (who even makes Peppa Pig’s father look competent). There is an almost beatification of the role of ‘Mother’, which seemed to revolve around a woman doing all the work to look after boys. The Lost Boys and Peter adopt Wendy as their Mother – clearly any female will do, age no object.
I found the spoken lines of the play rather irritating and insipid. However, the stage direction – which the audience never sees nor hears – can be sublime. A few that caught my attention:
Therefore, I have great hopes of the novel. As a play, the imagery and poetry of Barrie’s prose is sadly missing – and the sexism and racism (which will probably still be in the novel, as a product of the times) hits one unmediated. And yes – it is dark.
A childhood memory sadly excised. But a classic nonetheless, which continues to save thousands of sick children through its funding of the wonderful Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, which holds the rights to the story.
The only copy we had at home was a beautiful Folio Society book, with illustrations by Paula Rego (I couldn’t find that on Goodreads). It is the play, rather than the novel – the first telling of Peter Pan, which Barrie later revised and turned into a novel.
It took me a while to read it – mainly because I just could not get into it, and found much of it quite boring. Language has changed, as has society, and while I don’t want to condemn a book by applying current attitudes to something written a century ago, there were parts that I now found uncomfortable – primarily the depiction of the ‘redskins’ and calling them pickaninnies, the assignation of all housekeeping to Wendy, and the pretty much useless father (who even makes Peppa Pig’s father look competent). There is an almost beatification of the role of ‘Mother’, which seemed to revolve around a woman doing all the work to look after boys. The Lost Boys and Peter adopt Wendy as their Mother – clearly any female will do, age no object.
I found the spoken lines of the play rather irritating and insipid. However, the stage direction – which the audience never sees nor hears – can be sublime. A few that caught my attention:
“What you see is the Never Land. You have often half seen it before, or even three-quarters, after the night lights were lit, and you might have beached your coracle on it if you had not always at the great moment fallen asleep.”
“Cruellest jewel in that dark setting is HOOK himself, cadaverous and blackavised, his hair dressed in long curls which look like candles about to melt, his eyes blue as the forget-me-not and of a profound insensibility, save when he claws, at which time a red spot appears in them.”
“Down this the pirate (Hook) wriggles a passage. In the aperture below his face emerges and goes green as he glares at the sleeping child. Does no feeling of compassion disturb his sombre breast? The man is not wholly evil: he has a Thesaurus in his cabin, and is no mean performer on the flute. What really warps him is a presentiment that he is about to fail.”
Therefore, I have great hopes of the novel. As a play, the imagery and poetry of Barrie’s prose is sadly missing – and the sexism and racism (which will probably still be in the novel, as a product of the times) hits one unmediated. And yes – it is dark.
A childhood memory sadly excised. But a classic nonetheless, which continues to save thousands of sick children through its funding of the wonderful Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, which holds the rights to the story.
April 13, 2023
This is a very bizarre play about the conflict between growing up, staying in a childlike state, or finding a balance between the two. Much of the adventures in Neverland are presented as unnecessary childplay: Peter is almost left for dead “wounded” on a rock…even though Barrie has told us he’s not wounded at all. Peter knows this and just imagined that the hook wounded him anyway because otherwise it would be “too easy”. The play’s urgent adventure, therefore, is undercut by a jarring lack of necessity.
The villains are also nuanced. Hook is said to be “not wholly unheroic”, who greets the crocodile like an old friend when it is time to die. Mr Darling ends up sleeping in the dog’s kennel (???) as atonement for his earlier tyranny, and ends up welcoming the Lost Boys to his home. Meanwhile, Peter is left sad and alone by the end of the play, having even forgotten Tinkerbell, his most loyal friend. Even then, this final image of Peter is presented as just a “dream”, fading away onstage as we “wake up”. More closure is found for the ‘villains’ who accept growing up than Peter who tries to avoid it!
I liked Barrie’s style of writing: the excessiveness of the stage directions read like a novel. There was lots that was thematically interesting…but I didn’t love it. I’d rather see it performed. Liked it - didn’t love it!
The villains are also nuanced. Hook is said to be “not wholly unheroic”, who greets the crocodile like an old friend when it is time to die. Mr Darling ends up sleeping in the dog’s kennel (???) as atonement for his earlier tyranny, and ends up welcoming the Lost Boys to his home. Meanwhile, Peter is left sad and alone by the end of the play, having even forgotten Tinkerbell, his most loyal friend. Even then, this final image of Peter is presented as just a “dream”, fading away onstage as we “wake up”. More closure is found for the ‘villains’ who accept growing up than Peter who tries to avoid it!
I liked Barrie’s style of writing: the excessiveness of the stage directions read like a novel. There was lots that was thematically interesting…but I didn’t love it. I’d rather see it performed. Liked it - didn’t love it!
March 6, 2024
Following his incongruous appearance in The Little White Bird, Peter Pan’s debut to the world came in the form of a play, first staged in Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End on 27 December 1904. In the introduction to this printed edition, Barrie states he has no memory of writing the play. This seems partly due to the multiple iterations it spawned afterwards. Or perhaps it was just one of those moments of unexplained inspiration.
Reading the text of a play in isolation is always problematic as we’re only ever getting part of the story. There’s clearly moments designed for audience participation, such as the fourth wall breaking moment in which Peter asks the audience to clap for Tinkerbell. (Over a century of panto schtick was born right there). Yet in every other way, all the familiar pieces are in place. No version that has come since, even Disney’s animated classic, has successfully tried to alter the formula too much.
Unfortunately, there are still some cultural stereotypes present that were wrong then and remain so today. While I won’t get into it here, at least one of these racist tropes refers to Peter as "the Great White Father." So, yeah – 120 years later, some of this is a tough read.
Reading the text of a play in isolation is always problematic as we’re only ever getting part of the story. There’s clearly moments designed for audience participation, such as the fourth wall breaking moment in which Peter asks the audience to clap for Tinkerbell. (Over a century of panto schtick was born right there). Yet in every other way, all the familiar pieces are in place. No version that has come since, even Disney’s animated classic, has successfully tried to alter the formula too much.
Unfortunately, there are still some cultural stereotypes present that were wrong then and remain so today. While I won’t get into it here, at least one of these racist tropes refers to Peter as "the Great White Father." So, yeah – 120 years later, some of this is a tough read.
December 30, 2017
Seconda stella a destra e poi dritto fino al mattino... chi non vorrebbe andare lì ogni tanto? Dove non si diventa mai adulti e cinici, insieme ai bimbi perduti (il mio preferito è Macchia), quelli caduti dalla carrozzina mentre la governante stava guardando da un’altra parte. Andare nel mondo in cui anche il perfido Uncino s’intenerisce di fronte a Peter. Forse J.M. Barrie quando lo scrisse pensava a quel bambino che troppo presto era diventato invisibile agli occhi della madre, dopo la morte del fratellino David di soli 7 anni, o forse ai piccoli Davies, conosciuti ai giardini di Kensington, rimasti troppo presto orfani. Chi lo sa? Solo chi da adulto continua a coltivare il piccolo che ha dentro, non si sente mai tristemente vecchio o egoisticamente infantile. Attenzione adulti! Un bambino per crescere bene non ha bisogno di oggetti, ma di storie perché quelle portano ad immaginare e chi ha una mente immaginifica da adulto creerà scenari nuovi, chi è abituato ad avere tutto, vivrà nostalgicamente un’infanzia che durerà per sempre, avendo continuamente paura di perdere privilegi e attenzioni ritenute ‘dovute’.
June 13, 2026
What a ride! I read this right after "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens" which conceived the character as a baby-bird, and what a way to build character lore! Lovely callbacks to the baby-bird version, yet so profound in its own way. Some scenes like made me take pause. There are so many themes to uncover here: women of all ages being expected to undertake emotional labour for the men around them (Barrie's own mother as a child, Wendy/Tink/Tiger Lily in the play), existentialism, the notion of 'civilisation', and the inevitability of change, to name a few. I love how the stage directions were written, and could really see everything in my mind's eye as I read. Definitely a play to be experienced! Also interesting to see Barrie develop his own style as a writer along with working on his character's lore and fictional universe—truly a testament to how dynamic art is, and how literature thrives on renewing previous material in myriad ways.
May 11, 2025
L'amore che provo nei confronti di questa storia cresce in modo proporzionale all'età che ho.
Da piccola la consideravo una bella storia, un modo dove tutto era possibile, dove le tue più sfrenate fantasie coesistevano tra di loro: sirene, pirati, fate, bambini volanti, duelli, poter girare scalzi, vivere in una foresta... dove avrei dovuto firmare per andarci a vivere? Per passarci, anche un solo giorno, avrei venduto mio fratello (non l'ho fatto).
Ora la considero una favola stupenda, una che andrebbe letta in tutte le scuole e vista, almeno una volta nella vita, a teatro. Raccontano il modo in cui i bambini vedono il mondo, la magia dietro ogni angolo, la sensatezza nell'insensatezza e l'insensatezza nella sensatezza. Bisognerebbe ricordarsi di vedere il mondo in tal maniera, almeno qualchevolta, quando siamo annoiati e la fantasia è più propensa a tenderci una mano e chiederci se non ci vada di scappare con lei.
Comunque vada, qualunque cosa accada, alla fine ci sarà sempre una grande avventure da raccontare.
Da piccola la consideravo una bella storia, un modo dove tutto era possibile, dove le tue più sfrenate fantasie coesistevano tra di loro: sirene, pirati, fate, bambini volanti, duelli, poter girare scalzi, vivere in una foresta... dove avrei dovuto firmare per andarci a vivere? Per passarci, anche un solo giorno, avrei venduto mio fratello (non l'ho fatto).
Ora la considero una favola stupenda, una che andrebbe letta in tutte le scuole e vista, almeno una volta nella vita, a teatro. Raccontano il modo in cui i bambini vedono il mondo, la magia dietro ogni angolo, la sensatezza nell'insensatezza e l'insensatezza nella sensatezza. Bisognerebbe ricordarsi di vedere il mondo in tal maniera, almeno qualchevolta, quando siamo annoiati e la fantasia è più propensa a tenderci una mano e chiederci se non ci vada di scappare con lei.
Comunque vada, qualunque cosa accada, alla fine ci sarà sempre una grande avventure da raccontare.
October 21, 2018
I can say I've read it now. And I hated it. There is something troubling about the concept of play in this production. It's a play at station. Very much is it a glimpse into a time and place. But the fact that this story has become a modern phenomenon scares me to no end. There is a delusional violence that underpins this story. Peter Pan is mercurial tyrant at times. The Character of Wendy is horribly abused. And Michael and John become trapped in Fae. If this play was looked at through the older bacchanalian lens of Fae, I think this play could be amazing. A psychedelic wormhole that over takes everyone. But playing it as twee... scares me. Although "Split my infinitives...' and most things about Hook are hilarious.
July 15, 2020
Il Pan originario non mi ha sorpreso...colpa della Disney?
Ebbene si, mi ha sorpreso leggerlo per la prima volta in originale come opera teatrale dopo aver avuto come impatti precedenti le opere della Disney e il Pan di Francesco Dimitri che ho apprezzato alla grande.MA questo Pan, molto goth o quasi e molto spavaldo poteva essere di più ma forse la mia immaginazione era andata ben oltre per poterlo apprezzare anche se per lo meno la Disney non lo ha rimaneggiato come ci si potrebbe pensare.
I personaggi principali o secondari, animati dai ricordi di bambina hanno avuto la meglio sulla lettura che mi fa pensare in grande per un'opera piccina come si è presentata o dove la crudeltà utopica della crescita rimane comunque invariata e eternamente da studiare.
Tre stelle incerte ahimè!
Ebbene si, mi ha sorpreso leggerlo per la prima volta in originale come opera teatrale dopo aver avuto come impatti precedenti le opere della Disney e il Pan di Francesco Dimitri che ho apprezzato alla grande.MA questo Pan, molto goth o quasi e molto spavaldo poteva essere di più ma forse la mia immaginazione era andata ben oltre per poterlo apprezzare anche se per lo meno la Disney non lo ha rimaneggiato come ci si potrebbe pensare.
I personaggi principali o secondari, animati dai ricordi di bambina hanno avuto la meglio sulla lettura che mi fa pensare in grande per un'opera piccina come si è presentata o dove la crudeltà utopica della crescita rimane comunque invariata e eternamente da studiare.
Tre stelle incerte ahimè!
March 10, 2022
Se, come me, vi trovate a leggere questo libro ormai grandi, non aspettatevi la favoletta raccontatavi da piccoli.
Prendete il film d’animazione della Disney e mettetelo via nei vostri ricordi, perchè questo libro è assai più crudo e prepotente.
La storia di Peter Pan, il bambino che non voleva crescere, ma le cui maniere non son proprio fanciullesche, senza contar il narcisismo di cui esso è intriso.
Alla storia di Pan do tre stelle e mezza.
Prendete il film d’animazione della Disney e mettetelo via nei vostri ricordi, perchè questo libro è assai più crudo e prepotente.
La storia di Peter Pan, il bambino che non voleva crescere, ma le cui maniere non son proprio fanciullesche, senza contar il narcisismo di cui esso è intriso.
Alla storia di Pan do tre stelle e mezza.
February 5, 2023
It was interesting reading this play. Peter pan is my favourite Disney story, and I loved the sequel Hook. You could see elements of both movies in this story. I had fun reading about this adventure. Though it was also melancholy and sad as you realize how lonesome Peter's life seems. Though he always forgets, so it is not like he is bothered by it.
January 27, 2020
Enjoyable play- rminded me how fun it is to rad a play and see the stage inside one's head fill with the scenes. I plan to start reading more plays again in hopes to get back into dramatics. Also, realized I have never read the actual novel by J.M. Barrie.
October 2, 2023
more boring than the admirable crichton. unfinished because i started reading it amidst a big personal tragedy and i do not need to read a single more pirate song in this situation or i will go bonkers.
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