Peter Pan Research

Peter Pan or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up is the title of a Scottish playwright and novelist, J.M. Barrie. In addition, Barrie also wrote the play Peter and Wendy. It is the story of a mischievous little boy named Peter Pan who can fly and his adventures on the island of Neverland with Wendy Darling and her brothers John and Michael, the fairy Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, the Indian Princess Tiger Lily, and the pirate Captain Hook. The character name, Peter Pan, is a tribute to Barrie’s brother who died in childhood and is forever young.

James Matthew Barrie was born in Kirriemuir, Scotland on 9^th May 1860, the ninth of 10 children. For six years of his life, Barrie lived in the shadow of his mother’s love for his older brother, David. Unfortunately, on David’s fourteenth birthday he was gravely injured in a skating accident and died shortly after. While his mother gained some consolation from David knowing he would remain a boy forever, Barrie found it inspiring. The belief of the everlasting childhood inspired his most famous play, Peter Pan, as well as his lifelong love for children. In 1897 at Kensington Gardens, Barrie met Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and their five children, George, Jack, Peter, Michael and Nico. He developed a strong friendship with the children and their parents. The character of Peter Pan came from one of the boys, Peter Lleyelyn Davies and Pan, the mischievous Greek God of the woodlands. Sylvia and Arthur both tragically died of cancer when their children were still young. Barrie became their guardian and brought them up as his own children. It has been said that his life with the boys has been the strongest inspiration for the creation of Peter Pan in 1904.

The famous character of Peter Pan first appeared in the 1902 book ‘The Little White Bird’. The story was then republished in 1906 entitled ‘Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens’. Peter Pan has had many different adaptations such as a silent film, animated and live-action films, musical stage productions, a sequel novel, a book, a comic, a pantomime, and a video game.

Commedia dell’Arte is Italian for “comedy of professional arts” is a form of professional theatre characterized by unwritten or improvised dialogue, emerged in the early 16^th century in Italy. It originated in the streets and market places of the Italian Renaissance although it can be traced back to Ancient Greek and Roman Theatre. The style of Commedia is characterized by its use of masks with exaggerated comic features to draw attention to themselves and compliment their physical and acrobatic skills. Harlequinade is a British comic theatrical genre. It developed in England between the 17^th and 19^th centuries. It was originally a slapstick adaptation of Commedia dell’Arte. The harlequinade is originally a mime act with music and stylised dance however, it later added some dialogue. The harlequinade differed from the Commedia for being a central figure and for no dialogue. Pantomime means drama or play without words. John Rich was an important director and theatre manager in the 18^th century. He introduced pantomime to the English stage and played a dancing and mute Harlequin himself. Peter Pan is not strictly a pantomime play, but it has many features in common such as the tradition of a woman playing the part of the lead boy character.