Plays for Young Audiences

A PARTNERSHIP OF SEATTLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE AND CHILDREN’S THEATRE COMPANY-MINNEAPOLIS

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Peter Pan
Story by
J.M. Barrie
Adapted for the Stage by
Douglas Irvine and Jelena Paligoric

Scene 1 – The Shadow Goes Missing

A bed is on stage and large window’s curtains hang at the back. 5 actors enter- they are playing
a game. Once the audience has settled down, the actor playing Wendy steps forward to begin the
story – she tells the tale to the actors as much as to the audience. The actors play like children to
bring the world alive (these include the shadows they will make later).
NARRATOR I
All children grow up. They become hairdressers, lawyers and shopkeepers. They become
train drivers, dentists and astronauts. They become nurses, teachers and grown up with people
with children of their own.

NARRATOR II

Wendy is all grown up. Oh but don’t feel sorry

for her – she’s the kind that likes to grow up. She has a brother – Michael. He’s become a
bearded man in an office - though he used to be a pirate killer. Wendy got married - in white
with a pink sash. It’s strange but Peter Pan didn’t fly down into the church and stop it from
happening. But that was many years ago. Now, Wendy has a daughter called Jane.

Jane jumps on the bed. She is pulling at the sheets excitedly. Wendy is amused. Suddenly Jane
has pulled off the sheet and is running round the room pretending to fly. Wendy laughs.

WENDY
(Lovingly) Come on you. Bedtime.
JANE
But I haven’t flown over the mermaids’ lagoon yet...

WENDY
Come here.

Jane continues her game.

WENDY
I can see the pirates coming!

JANE
Pirates? (Excited she jumps into bed) Are we safe?

WENDY
Of course we are. I’m here.

JANE
I love you Mum. (They hug) Tell me about Peter Pan.

WENDY
Again? Sweetheart, that was such a long time ago – and how time flies!

JANE
Does it fly the way you flew when you were a little girl?

WENDY
Do you know Jane, I sometimes wonder whether I ever did really fly.
JANE
You did.

WENDY
Well I can’t fly now.

JANE
Why not?

WENDY
Because I’m grown up. When people grow up, they forget the way.

JANE
So, tell me.

WENDY
One evening when I was little, Peter Pan burst in to our nursery looking for his shadow.
The silly boy, tried to stick it on with soap, and when he couldn’t he cried, and that woke me,
and so I stitched it on for him.

JANE
You’ve missed a bit. When you saw him sitting on the floor crying, what was it you said?

WENDY
I sat up in bed and said ‘Boy why are you crying?

JANE
That was it.

WENDY
And then he flew us all away to Neverland.

JANE
But what about the part with Grandma and Grandad and Uncle Michael?

WENDY
If you snuggle down, I’ll tell you. (Jane does) I first heard of Peter Pan when I was just
little and I found some leaves on the floor of my room. I knew they hadn’t been there when I
went to bed and I said, ‘I think it’s that Peter again’. And my mother replied...

MRS D
What do you mean?

WENDY
It’s really naughty of him not to wipe his feet.

MRS D
(Lovingly) Silly - no one can get into the house
without knocking.
WENDY
I know but I think he comes in by the window.

MRS D
But we’re three floors up.

WENDY
Yes and were there not leaves at the foot of the window?

Mrs Darling seems distracted

WENDY
(To Jane) There were leaves but she must have thought I was dreaming.
Jane is falling asleep. Mrs Darling starts searching the room.

NARRATOR I
Mrs Darling examined the leaves carefully but she didn’t recognise them from any tree
she knew. She crawled around the floor, peering for marks of a strange foot.

NARRATOR II
She knocked on the walls and let down a tape from the window to the pavement. It was a sheer drop of
thirty feet,
without so much as a drainpipe to hold on to. But then one night, after bath, and stories, when Wendy
and her brother Michael were
tucked up bed and had gone to sleep, (Mrs Darling has fallen asleep) she had a dream.
She dreamt that a strange place had come too near and that a strange boy had broken
through from it. He didn’t scare her, for she thought she had seen him before. In her dream he
tore the film that obscures his never land, and she saw her Wendy and Michael peeping through
the gap.

The window of the nursery opens, the curtains billow and an oversized shadow is seen on the
drapes. It is Peter Pan. Mrs Darling wakes up. Peter gnashes his teeth at her. Mrs
Darling awakes with a scream.

NARRATOR
Their dog Nana, ran into the room.

Nana growls and springs at Peter who leaps to the window and
disappears. Mrs Darling screams again and runs to the window.

NARRATOR I
Mrs Darling ran down to the street to look for his little body but he wasn’t there, and in
the black night she could see nothing except what she thought was a shooting star. She returned
to the nursery and found Nana with something in her mouth.

Mrs Darling takes a black silhouette from Nana’s mouth.

MRS D
A shadow?

NARRATOR II

She decided to roll the shadow up and put it away carefully in a drawer, until there was
good time to tell her husband. That opportunity came a week later, on that never-to-be-forgotten
Friday when Mrs Darling and her husband were going out for the evening. Wendy and her little
brother Michael were tucked up cosy in bed.

Nana starts barking.

WENDY
Please Mother, can Nana stay in our room tonight?

MRS D
She’ll be fine in the yard.

WENDY
But that’s not Nana’s happy bark. That’s her bark when she smells danger.

MRS D
Are you sure Wendy?

WENDY
Oh yes.

Mrs Darling looks out of the window.

MICHAEL
Can you see anything?

MRS D
Everything’s quiet. No need to worry about anything. (To herself) Oh how I wish I
wasn’t going to that party tonight.

MICHAEL
Mother, you look beautiful this evening.

MRS D
Why thank you kind sir.

MICHAEL
Can anything harm us, after the night lights are on?

MRS D
Nothing my precious - they are the eyes a mother leaves behind to guard her children.

MICHAEL
I love you Mum.
MRS D
And I love you Michael. (To Wendy) And you.

Mrs Darling kisses her children and gives a last look round the room - her hand on the light
switch.

MRS D
Sleep well my beautiful ones. And night lights – burn long, burn bright and
keep my sleeping babes safe and snug tonight.

Mrs Darling turns the lights off and exits leaving the night-lights twinkling over the sleeping
children.

SCENE 2 – Peter Looks for his Shadow

Two night lights are burning. Slowly they go out. There is an odd atmosphere in the room. Then
a light appears – very bright and very small – the same as seen earlier. It darts and flits around
the nursery- searching for something. It goes in drawers, in the wardrobe, inside pockets of
dressing gowns etc. Suddenly the curtains billow and Peter Pan drops into the room again.
PETER
(Whispers) Tinker Bell! Tink! Where are you? (The light darts around the room again)
Come out of that jug. Now where have they put it? (There’s a tinkle) Which box? (Another
tinkle) That big box over there? (He goes to the chest of drawers) Got you!

He takes out his shadow but he has to wrestle with it and tame it. He succeeds and sits on the
floor trying to attach it to himself. But it won’t fix. He starts to cry. Wendy wakes up and sits up
in her bed and sees him.

WENDY
Boy, why are you crying?

Peter quickly stands up and courteously bows to her.

PETER
What’s your name?

WENDY
Wendy Moira Angela Darling. What’s yours?

PETER
Peter Pan.

WENDY
Is that all?

PETER
Yes.
WENDY
I’m so sorry.

PETER
It doesn’t matter.

WENDY
Where do you live?

PETER
Second to the right and straight on till morning.

WENDY
What a funny address.

PETER
No it isn’t.

WENDY
I mean is that what they put on the letters?
PETER
(contemptuously) Don’t get any letters.

WENDY
But your Mother gets letters?

PETER
Don’t have a mother.

WENDY
No wonder you were crying.

PETER
I wasn’t crying. I can’t get my shadow to stick on.

WENDY
It’s come off?

PETER
Yes.

WENDY
That’s awful! It must be sewn back on.

PETER
What’s sewn?

WENDY
I’ll do it for you. (She fetches a sewing kit) But it might hurt a bit.
PETER
I won’t cry.

Wendy sews the shadow on to Peter. Peter leaps to his feet and jumps about in the wildest glee.

PETER
How clever I am!

WENDY
Of course, I didn’t do anything.

PETER
You did a little.

WENDY
A little!

Wendy jumps into bed and covers her face with the sheet. Peter follows her.

PETER
Wendy, don’t go away. I can’t help crowing when I’m pleased with myself. Wendy?
Wendy, one girl is more useful than twenty boys.

Wendy peeps out of the bed.

WENDY
Do you really think so Peter?

PETER
I do.

WENDY
That’s so lovely of you. I’ll get up again.

Wendy gets up. She and Peter are sitting side by side on the bed.

WENDY
Peter, how old are you?

PETER
(Uneasily) I don’t know. But I’m quite young. I ran away the day I was born.

WENDY
You ran away?

PETER
I heard my parents talking about how I was to be when I became a man. (Passionately) I
want to be a little boy forever and have fun. So I ran away from home and lived among the
fairies for a long time. And lost boys.

WENDY
(With admiration) You lived among fairies? Who are the lost boys ?

LOST BOYS TOGETHER ( jump in ) : We are the lost boys !

PETER
Fairies can really be quite annoying. Always getting in the way, causing a nuisance.
(He starts to laugh) They’re great! You see when the first baby laughed for the first time, its
laugh broke into a thousand pieces and that was the beginning of fairies. So there should be one
fairy for every boy and girl.

WENDY
Should be?

PETER
You see, children know such a lot – or so they think – they soon don’t believe in fairies.
And every time a child says, ‘I don’t believe in fairies’, there’s one somewhere falls down dead.
(He gets up quickly) I can’t think where’s she’s gone to. (Calling) Tinker Bell! Come out you fairy.
WENDY
(Thrilled) Peter, are you saying there’s one in my room?

PETER
She was here just now. You don’t hear her do you?

They both listen and hear a faint sound

WENDY
All I can hear is a tinkle of bells.

PETER
That’s Tink. I think I hear her too.

Peter tries to find the source of the noise. He comes to the chest of drawers. He starts to laugh.

PETER
Wendy, I’ve shut her in the drawer.

Peter opens the drawer and a light flies about in a fury making all sorts of ugly noises.

PETER
Of course I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were in there.

WENDY
Oh Peter, can you get her to stand still? I’d love to see her.

PETER
They hardly ever stand still.
WENDY
Where is she?

PETER
Look. There.

Tinker Bell rests for a moment and Wendy looks closely at her.

WENDY
Oh how lovely!

PETER
Tink, this lady wishes you were her fairy.

Tinker Bell answers.

WENDY
What did she say?

PETER
She says you are great ugly girl, and that she’s my fairy. (To Tink) Tink, I’m a gentleman
and you’re a lady so you can’t be my fairy.

Tinker Bell responds.

WENDY
What did she say now?

PETER
Ouh... Nevermind.

Tinker Bell flies off.

PETER
She’s so common. (Apologising) She’s called Tinker Bell because she mends the pots and
kettles.

WENDY
So where do you live now?

PETER
With the Lost Boys.

WENDY
And who are they?

LOST BOYS TOGETHER : We are the lost boys !

PETER
They are the children who fall out of their prams when no one’s looking. If they’re not
claimed in seven days, they find themselves in Neverland. I’m their Captain.

WENDY
You must have so much fun. But! Hey! You might be captain in Neverland but not in this house.

Wendy sees that Michael is still asleep.

WENDY
Someone pulled my hair.

PETER
Tink! I’ve never seen her so badly behaved before.

Tinker Bell is darting around furiously.

WENDY
But why?

PETER
Why Tink?

Tinker Bell answers.

WENDY
She’s very rude. Peter, why did you come here?

PETER
To listen to stories. We don’t know any.

WENDY
You don’t know any stories?

PETER
Your mother was telling you such a lovely story.

WENDY
Which one?

PETER
About the prince who couldn’t find the lady who wore the glass slipper.

WENDY
Peter, that was Cinderella.

PETER
What happened?
WENDY
He found her, and they lived happily ever after.

Peter gets up and rushes to the window.

WENDY
Where are you going?

PETER
To tell the other boys. We all gonna come to your place to listen stories. Aren't we boys ?

LOST BOYS ( TOGETHER ) : YES!

WENDY
Don’t go Peter. I know lots of other stories. I could tell you and the boys so many of
them.

PETER
Wendy, come and fly with me.

WENDY
Fly?

LOST BOY I : I saw Pirates! I saw Indians! Not only did I see Pirates, and Indians, but I
saw a wonderfuller thing. High over the lagoon I saw the loveliest, great,
white bird. It is flying this way.

LOST BOY II : It looks weary and as it flies it moans,

“Poor Wendy”. I think there are birds called Wendies. See, here it
comes! Look how white it is.

PETER
BOYS ! Fly with me and tell the other boys.

WENDY
Oh dear. I can’t. What about mother. Besides I can’t fly.

PETER
I’ll teach you.

WENDY
To fly?

PETER
I’ll teach you to jump on the wind’s back and away we’ll go.

WENDY
Oh!
PETER
Wendy, just think - when you’re sleeping in your bed, you could be out flying with me
instead, touching the stars.

WENDY
Oh!

PETER
And Wendy - there are mermaids.

WENDY
Mermaids? I’ve never seen a mermaid.

PETER
Wendy, how we would all respect you. You could tell us stories.

WENDY
Peter, would you teach Michael to fly too?

PETER
If you like.

WENDY
(To Michael on the floor) Wake up! Wake up. Peter Pan’s here and he’s going to teach us
to fly.

MICHAEL
What? Is he? Then I’ll get up. Oh I am up.
Nana bark – it is very urgent – scared.

PETER PAN
Quickly!

MICHAEL
Can you really fly?

PETER
Of course I can.

WENDY
How sweet!

PETER
Yes, I am sweet!

MICHAEL
So how do you do it?

PETER
You just think lovely wonderful thoughts and they lift you up into the air. But first you
need some fairy dust. (He sprinkles some dust on the children). Now let your minds go free - see
those wonderful things and let go…

MICHAEL
It’s so exciting!

PETER
Now quickly, come to the window. (They do) Look at the stars – they’re calling to us, the
moon will guide us to the fairies and mermaids…

MICHAEL
Fairies? I don’t think we should go.

PETER PAN
And pirates.

MICHAEL
Pirates? Wendy, let’s go now!

WENDY
Yes, let’s go Peter.

PETER
Then come!

THE END