Artist:
Peter Pan
Genre: Theater
Background: The character
of Peter Pan was first mentioned in a 1902
book by Sir James M. Barrie (knighted in
1913) entitled The Little White Bird. In
1904, Peter became the lead character in
the play, Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't
Grow Up. In 1911, Barrie turned his popular
play into a novel called Peter and Wendy.
Like Peter Pan, Barrie was a boy who refused
to grow up. He never had his own children,
but spent a great deal of time playing with
the children of his good friends, Sylvia
and Arthur Llewelyn Davies. He loved to
create skits for the children's entertainment.
Barrie even acted out the part of the over-the-top
comic villain Captain Hook to the delight
of the five Davies boys.
While writing and acting out skits with
the Davies children, Barrie developed the
characters and plot he would use in the
play version of Peter Pan.
Of the five boys, Peter was the one most
closely linked with his fictional namesake,
an identification he hated all his life.
Though he was a highly successful publisher,
Peter spent most of his life depressed and
committed suicide in 1960. After Sylvia
and Arthur's early deaths, Barrie adopted
their five boys. The lone girl in the family,
Wendy, had died at a very early age.
Despite the quality and originality of the
piece, Barrie still had a hard time getting
it produced. Unlike today, plays in 1904,
usually did not have special effects like
flying and major scene changes. Even with
its substantial technical requirements and
unique plot and characters, Peter Pan was
a great success. It was a big hit throughout
England and then in the United States in
1905, with famed actress, Maude Adams, performing
the lead to great critical acclaim.
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