Peter Pan or the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up: A Fantasy in Five Acts
by J. M. Barrie
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Ever since Peter Pan flew in through Wendy Darling's nursery window and took her off to Never Land, Barrie's classic adventure story has thrilled and delighted generations of theatre-goers. J M Barrie wrote Peter Pan first as a work of prose and then adapted it for the stage. John Caird and Trevor Nunn first adapted Barrie's book and play in the 1980s for the Royal Shakespeare Company and then in 1997 for the Royal National Theatre. "A feast of nursery nostalgia, wizard effects, Edwardian show more lingo and tinselled adventure" Observer show lessTags
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Member Reviews
I was pleasantly surprised by this play, which I enjoyed, as I did Barrie's introduction.
I had previously read the children's story to my children and had expected the play to be very similar to the book, although necessarily compressed. However, although the same basic story, it is an independent work (having been written before the book). It is darker, which surprised me, and Peter Pan is a much more ambiguous figure of the child who never wants to grow up.
Well worth reading.
I read the Folio Society edition with illustrations with Paula Rego. I looked at the pictures before I read the play and thought that they were typically brilliant Rego, but incorporating her ideas rather than illustrating the play. But once I had read the play, show more I realised that the illustrations are true to the play, not the book, and the more enjoyable for that. show less
I had previously read the children's story to my children and had expected the play to be very similar to the book, although necessarily compressed. However, although the same basic story, it is an independent work (having been written before the book). It is darker, which surprised me, and Peter Pan is a much more ambiguous figure of the child who never wants to grow up.
Well worth reading.
I read the Folio Society edition with illustrations with Paula Rego. I looked at the pictures before I read the play and thought that they were typically brilliant Rego, but incorporating her ideas rather than illustrating the play. But once I had read the play, show more I realised that the illustrations are true to the play, not the book, and the more enjoyable for that. show less
I invented my personal Never Land prior to the lecture of this famous book, which was, like many children’s books, actually written for adults. During my life, I often returned to Never Land. And it will be my last destination.
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Author Information
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James Matthew Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, was born on May 9, 1860, in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland. His idyllic boyhood was shattered by his brother's death when Barrie was six. His own grief and that of his mother influenced the rest of his life. Through his work, he sought to recapture the carefree joy of his first six years. Barrie came to show more London as a freelance writer in 1885. His early fiction, Auld Licht Idylls (1888) and A Window in Thrums (1889), were inspired by his youth in Kirriemuir. After publishing a biography of his mother Margaret Ogilvy and the autobiographical novel Sentimental Tommy, about a boy living in a dream world (1896), he concentrated on writing plays. The Admirable Crichton (1902), the story of a butler who becomes king of a desert island, helped to establish Barrie's reputation as a playwright. Meanwhile, he began to relive his childhood by telling the first Peter Pan stories to the sons of his friend, Sylvia Llewellyn Davies. The play Peter Pan was first performed in 1904 and published as a novel seven years later. Its imaginative drama, featuring the eternal boy's triumph over the grownup Captain Hook, idealizes childhood and underscores adults' inability to regain it. These resonant themes made it a classic of world literature. Barrie's later work shows his increasingly cynical view of adulthood, particularly in Dear Brutus (1917). Often considered his finest play, it concerns nine men and women whose caprices destroy a miraculous opportunity to relive their lives. Barrie married the former Mary Ansell in 1894. They divorced in 1909, never having any children. Barrie died in London on June 19, 1937. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Peter Pan or the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up: A Fantasy in Five Acts
- Original publication date
- 1904
- Disambiguation notice
- Please do not combine the original play with the later novelization of the play.
This is the original play written by J.M. Barrie and first performed in 1904.
Peter and Wendy is the title of Barrie's 1911 novelization... (show all) of it. The novel follows the play closely, but includes a final chapter not part of the original play. The novel is now usually published under the title Peter and Wendy or simply Peter Pan.
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- 122
- Popularity
- 267,153
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.56)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 9
- ASINs
- 11
