peter pan in kensington gardens by jm barrie

In its place we get a vast spectacle which, as Raymond Chandler said of Los Angeles, has the soul of a paper cup.Īdmittedly Ben Harrison's production, accompanied by sub-Star Wars music from Benjamin Wallfisch, has a mechanical efficiency. Whatever is unnerving in Barrie's play is here remorselessly ironed out. Hook and the pirates also become as much deprived mother-lovers as the lost boys. She turns Tinkerbell from a spritely light into a puckish scruff in a fluffy tutu. But, in adapting Barrie's original, Tanya Ronder has deprived Peter of his pathos and made numerous odd changes. The genius of Barrie's play is that it leaves one undecided whether to admire its hero's defiance of maturity or to pine for his exclusion from familial life. Uniquely, in my experience, this is a Peter Pan that never moves one emotionally. Dudley's design is technically breathtaking, but it totally dominates the live action. And Never Land itself offers a mix of Amazonian jungle, submarine mystery and vast seascapes in which the Albert Memorial rises from the water close to the pirate ship. The fairies think he is too human to be allowed to stay in after Lock-out time, so he flies off to an island which divides the Gardens from the more grown-up Hyde Park – Peter’s adventures, and how he eventually meets Mamie and the goat, are delightfully illustrated by Arthur Rackham.The flight to Never Land is the cue for a dizzying panorama of London in which Peter and the Darlings dodge round the dome of St Paul's and scoot under Tower Bridge. He escapes his human form and flies to Kensington Gardens, where all his happy memories are, and meets the fairies, the thrushes, and Old Caw the crow. Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens is the magical tale that first introduces Peter Pan, the little boy who never grows any older. After lots of adventures, the story reaches its exciting climax as Peter, Wendy and the children do battle with Captain Hook and his band.

His hand was bitten off by a crocodile, who, as Captain Hook explains ‘liked me arm so much that he has followed me ever since, licking his lips for the rest of me’.

The leader of the pirates is the sinister Captain Hook. He teaches them to fly, then takes them through the sky to Never-Never Land, where they find wolves, Mermaids and… Pirates. The magical Peter Pan comes to the night nursery of the Darling children, Wendy, John and Michael.

Peter pan in kensington gardens by jm barrie