today for you: tomorrow for me

Michael dressed as Peter Pan wrestling with J M Barrie

as Hook in August 1906 | © GOSH

www.jmbarrie.co.uk

today was spent hunting and gathering: for costumes

discovering pirate, john and some lost boy attire
together with crucial conversation about performance:
dressing-up, meaning, contract and company

tomorrow will be spent planning: with script

creating more ideas from text for physical action
journeying, questing, discovering neverland
taking another look at barrie's 1911 peter and wendy

week 1: day 5

the aim in week one

despite having a three week rehearsal period

was to explore acts the first, second and third: our first half

the schedule was thus the same as last year

because there will be flying and fighting in week three

we needed to cover some neverland ground

and so be as economic with our time

this was achieved with great creativity from one and all:

choreographically, on the stage management front

and with chaperones looking after 39 young performers

great beauty, delicacy and poignancy

has been achieved in act the first:

wendy is funny, refreshing and enchanted

peter is innocent, refreshing, incorrigible

mr darling is a 'tornado' (as barrie intended) and lovable

mrs darling has grace, beauty and protects

the pirates in act the second have an energy to die for

an awfully big adventure here

the lost boys possess a demeanor 

making their presence real, honest, truthful: natural

act the third is marooner's rock

and offers up aquatic, la-goon-like comedy

smee is a hoot in the dinghy-boat

hook is a fool

and peter and wendy maroon themselves with simplicity

a swashbuckling-quest of a first week

do you believe in fairies

the sophistication of barrie's  peter pan is enviable:

lost innocence, abandonment, kidnapping

pirates, american indians, fairies

edwardian london, neverland

battles, flying, disablement

lagoons, dens, boudoirs, ships, nurseries

dogs, ostriches, crocodiles

envy, love and grief

swashbuckling adventure

playing and playgrounds

the imaginary

and telling stories

and this presents many challenges

for actor and producer and director and stage manager alike

and challenges that are so very achievable

if you believe in fairies

if you can 'believe-in-the-barn': in

wonderland

narnia

middle earth

neverland

and this is where the real excitement lies:

the redskins were defeated?

wendy and the boys captured by the pirates!

i'll rescue her

i'll rescue her!

oh, that is just my medicine...

poisoned?

who could have poisoned it?

i promised wendy to take it

and i will as soon as i have sharpened my dagger

why, tink, you have drunk my medicine!

it was poisoned and you drank it to save my life

tink, dear tink: are you dying?

her light is growing faint

and if it goes out

that means she is dead

her voice is so low

i can scarcely tell what she is saying

she says

she says she thinks she could get well again

if children believed in fairies!

do you believe in fairies?

say quick that you believe!

if you believe: clap your hands!

oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!

and now to rescue wendy!

Act IV, Peter, Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie (1904)

teeth & teddy bears

developed three new songs today:

fly with me

mr & mrs darling

the imaginary meal

launched into act the first proper

 

already a superb relationship developing between mr & mrs

the michaels are a dream

and peter and wendy dynamic, innocent, funny, honest

truthful 

a lost boy's tooth fell out today

a milk tooth

and we hope to make it into a beautiful necklace for tinker bell

all are excited about this tribal aspect of the piece

there are no jewelry shops in neverland

and so tink has to be a little resourceful

in order to achieve a little glamour

have now been in-undated with milk tooth offerings!

a wonder!

and teddy bears are coming in thick and fast

for an aspect of the set at the indian camp...

day one

we don't really know how we 'got through' all that we did today

meeting the full performing company for the first time

and everyone being in the same room

and there are in excess of 50 people in that room

our adult actors had a little catchin' up to do today, as always

because the lost boys and pirates

had already rehearsed for five days

but after a rigorous and vigorous warm-up

with our incredible choreographer

whose energy and precision is exquisite

we settled down around the piano: a tinky-tonk upright

and learnt melodies and harmonies with an ease, great humour

and hysterics: the laughable ones

our adult actors know one another very well

and so were able to enjoy many harmonic accidents

tinker bell: so nervous singing in front of the 39

squeezed a michael hand so very tight in

the boy who never grew up

and sweated his hand

he was gracious - this was fun - and we laughed

adult actors were choreographed for the first time

with the kids already having learnt the dance

and this created a beautiful pressure

of concentration, energy and grace

we fully staged the prologue:

two is the beginning of the end and

the boy who never grew up

the lost boys, boys band song and

a pirate's life

a beautiful, enchanting and engaging day:

day one

day zero

the day before we start full time in neverland:

day zero

we have had five sunday rehearsals with pirates, lost boys, michaels

and peter pan

five songs have been developed:

- the boy who never grew up

- lost boys

- yo ho ho

- the mermaids' song

- the battle

and three of these have been choreographed

there are 39 young people in the cast: ambitious

and six adult actors who are arriving in town this very minute...

it is now after 10 o'clock in the evening

and the day has been spent singing, dancing, creating and

discovering how the lost boys playing tootles

might also play nana

nana (a dog played by a boy)

says barrie, and so

'nanarish' - to quote a lost boy -  discussions were had:

manners of sitting, standing, walking, cleaning, serving et al

and for the first time in three years we are

marking out the gallery space

we have the full width and depth

of the wilde stage for our rehearsals

this will be a rare treat and will enable us all

to site story and action earlier

the proxemics will thus be clearer and this detail

will enhance our audience experience

a great place to work, create, make theatre, direct, perform:

south hill park

i started out here as an actor in the gingerbread man in '91

and it is a privilege to be here for a third year as a director in '09

to neverland