1. Let me start off by saying this is not the Disney narrative I was expecting. I hadn't quite realised Peter Pan differed in such a way.
2. Although I adore Peter Pan, which those of you who have seen my sister blog Loz Does Disney will know, the only reason I was drawn to this production was because of Gerran Howell.
Hilariously, the whole reason I started on Audible was because of Mr Howell (everyone knows my adoration towards this man) and Peter Pan was one of the first books I added to the library. This was 2 years ago and I have only just gotten around to listening to it.
Gerran, as always, was marvellous. For a man in his thirties he pulls off voicing a fae child very, very well. Admittedly, he has a baby face in real life and is used to playing a vampire (oh the good old days of Young Dracula), but something about his performance here was the correct form of haunting for such a complex character.
Despite my love for Peter Pan, I have always found him such a selfish and almost psychopathic character. For someone with such boyish charm, he is ruthless and bloodthirsty. He creates scenarios where he can be the hero and I cant help but feel that childhood innocence is actually lost on Pan, I think he displays a false naivety especially when it comes to the girls he has in his thrall. Equally, I think with Wendy he is genuinely aghast as she is something new to him, but the way he behaves around the mermaids and Tigerlily is intentional, he likes the female gaze. In terms of Tink I also think he is oblivious, I think it never even occurred to him she's in love him like every other poor girl he comes across.
There has never been a more tragic tale in my mind than that of Peter Pan and Wendy Darling. It is such a recognised loss which everyone is exposed to at such a young age, but not one of bereavement, this is a different loss. You see it referenced in pop culture all the time, take Taylor Swift and the lyrics of Cardigan; 'Peter losing Wendy' or All Time Low with Somewhere in Neverland with their 'Wendy, run away with me'.
With the former I can't think of a lyric which breaks my heart more, which was the intention of the song. That wraps it up in a nutshell, Peter's inability to change, his reluctance to grow up led to him losing his first love as that is what it was. It was a hard choice to make, it wasn't amicable. Peter lost Wendy and it was tragic and pointless. He lost her. We all know the tragic part is that it was preventable, but also that it was permanent.
With this version, we actually begin with the Darling children's mother telling them the story of Pan. It was she who was exposed to the wonders of the fae like boy as a child. She talks of a life lost, a what if and her regret, and it inspires her children to take the leap of faith into Neverland which almost becomes a child trap, but I'll go into that in a minute.
It is when Peter has his first proper interaction with Wendy that we learn he has come to her house nightly to listen to her stories. We are already aware of his history with her mother, I cant help but think the reason Peter pursues Wendy is because he is still longing for Mary, he cant have Mary as she has grown up, but the daughter in her image and of the right age...
I think this is why Peter is so eager to project the notion of 'mother' onto Wendy. His true reasoning for visiting the Darling household is Mary, he has been unable to let go especially as he was rejected. Clearly Mary has had trouble letting go also, and I think this is why the link between them is so strong. Peter forgets basically everything else which is evident in some of the stories Wendy is asked to tell later on, but he never forgot Mary and this must have been where the Fae magic came in. All the while Mary believed in Peter he was aware of her, he sought her out when he could. As he watched her grow he longed for the attributes which came with growing up, in this case playing house. This was why he was so keen to project who Mary had become, a mother, onto her daughter. He got to fulfil his fantasies with Wendy of being a father figure and being with Mary. He grew to love the latter more as she grew up and despite his reluctance to the notion he clearly wanted this too, but he could play this off by labelling it all make believe rather than simply admitting he too was longing to change. But the silly boy simply could not let himself do so. He was scared, we are all scared to grow up, but he let that consume him. The fearless boy lets his true fear rule him, how ironic.
Now back to the child trap. We see quite often during this narrative that the three Darling children have pretty much forgotten their life before. Peter often talks of the reason he abandoned his family, it was because a Changeling child took his place and as such he was raised with the Fae. However, if you are into folklore it is a known trope that the Fae will actively steal children, luring them away and putting a Changeling in their place, it is down to the parents to notice within a certain period of time in order for the exchange to be reversed, but in an era where Nannies were present and overworked, is it any wonder no one noticed? Peter feels as though his mother abandoned him and took in a Fae child over him, he became Fae and without realising he is also luring away children, he has become one of them.
Now the children in question once they have been exposed to Neverland, forget. It gets harder and harder to remember their mother, or Nana, or London at all. There is only Neverland with its Pirates and Mermaids and lost girl battles. It is only Wendy who remembers and encourages the others to break the spell. I believe the only reason this is the case is because she had already began to grow up. Wendy is thirteen years old in this story, we all know what starts to happen to the majority of thirteen year old girls. While she is able to keep her youth, she has also begun growing, and neither her or Peter realise it was too late to trap her, she like her mother are lost to the Fae.
Wendy also saves the lost boys in this story through breaking the spell. Although nobody knows how long they have been trapped in the magic land, it is immediately assumed that they have been there long enough to be unable to go back to their parents. It is decided that Mary will adopt them. If you listen carefully Mary agrees to this while she is still under the spell of Pan and the relief of getting her children back. However, when she goes outside to talk to Wendy she refers to them in almost an angry way as street urchins, she has forgotten what has happened, the spell broke. This is referenced early on in the story, that Fae magic causes you to forget unless you believe in something, as this is their whole reason to be. Each child has a fairy, if they stop believing this fairy dies, the Fae cannot prevent this and I suppose this is why they steal children, so that they can stay alive as they then believe forever in the Fae. Perhaps this is Peter's job, to lure away children and keep them young forever so that the fairies survive and can dance forever. Wendy single handedly brought down this operation as she saved those kids by bringing them back to London and left Peter and Tink alone to adventure together. No doubt Peter will just start again. But there is certainly a spell over Neverland, erasing the children's memory. Peter cannot remember anything unless he has a momento, we see it when he forgets he even had a battle with the lost girls and they got stuck in the tree. He remembers Mary through the thimble, he's obsessed with Wendy and he gave her an acorn button. Lord only knows the thrall either girl would be under if they had agreed to kiss him. Perhaps that is the way to bypass how a young lady has begun to grow, if they kiss him they are under the spell and cannot escape.
I do like how this version of Tinkerbell is also displayed as increasingly jealous much like the original version of the character we all know and love from the Disney movies. This was before they ruined her and gave her a backstory which was not in keeping with the existing character in any way shape or form. In this narrated version, Tink is very much the selfish and kniving counterpart of Pan. She is instantly jealous of any other woman Pan comes into contact with, adores him, and immediately jumps to murdering her rival while attempting to shirk the blame by getting the lost boys to do it. While towards the end of the story she does a quick 360 and decides to accept Wendy if it keeps Peter happy, she still comes off as very whiny and controlling. I note she also took quite the backseat in this story and was not as present as I assumed. This story very much focused on the relationship between Peter and Wendy and the role of mother, this further supports our need to fixate on this particular plot point in other media, we just can't seem to let their failed potential romance go.
John Darling was another character which borderline irritated me. Yes, in the version I am used to (yes this is the Disney version), he is very cocksure and arrogant but this is to be expected as the eldest male in the era this was set. He is the man of the situation as there is no current father figure to take charge. However, in this story he was blind and narcissistic because of it. He downright refused to believe in Peter Pan or fairies, he refused to give his sister the respect she was warranted, and he scoffed when Peter declared that in Neverland girls are their equals in every way. Admittedly, the whole we should be a slave to Wendy thing was a bit much, but otherwise I supported the notion girls deserved respect, especially considering Peter Pan was written during a time when society disagreed.
John and Michael easily forgot their mother, and it wasn't too long before they started to forget that Wendy was their sister. John held onto the slight notion just out of spite so that he didn't have to take orders, but he was easily put in his place by Peter. If John was my brother, I'd have left him there for being so awful.
We also see a different relationship in this version between Captain Hook and Mr Smee. Hook has always seemed very camp and flamboyant, but Rupert Everett's portrayal did further justice to this. You can picture the regal pirate, and he refers to his crew as darlings and dearests. He has a very keen fondness for Mr Smee who is willing to betray Hook if Wendy agrees to be his mother too. Smee is clearly his favourite, and if I didn't know better I'd be inclined to think there is more there than a friendship, perhaps indicative of lovers? There are no women in Neverland for the grown pirates to lust after, the mermaids are also young and childlike, makes you think...
However, the pirates are just as keen for a mother as the lost boys which makes me think that these are discarded boys who have found their way back to Neverland after Pan abandoned them but they also couldn't go home.
I was also surprised at how brutal this version is. I guess I am used to the sugar coated narratives where you cannot talk of murder. Peter and the pirates often talk of and try to action killing each other, one of the first things Peter suggested when they arrived at Neverland was murder. This is cut throat stuff.
Now I need to wrap this up as I can go on about Peter Pan forever, I reckon I could publish a thesis on the subject. I give this Audible Original version of Peter Pan a 7/10.
The plot was occasionally incoherent and very childish, but the acting was superb. Howell and Everett were by far the stars of this production and because of them I'd happily listen again.
Have you listened to this production, do you plan to? Drop a comment on my socials!
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