The play

The original stage production took place at the Duke of York Theatre, London, on 27 December 1904.

It starred Gerald du Maurier (brother of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, mother of the five boys who inspired JM Barrie) as Captain Hook and Mr Darling, and Nina Boucicault as Peter.

Zena Dare consequently took the role in the 1905-1906 production and then Pauline Chase from the 1906-07 season until 1914-1915 .

Following the success of his London production, Barrie's producer, Charles Frohman, took it to Broadway in New York in 1905. It starred Maude Adams who would play the role on and off again for over ten years.

The actors

It was still traditional in the early 20th century for the part of young boys to be played by a woman and this tradition carried on for Peter Pan up to World War II, and is now still perpetuated in some productions, particularly in the panto version. It has also become traditional for Mr Darling and Captain Hook to be played by the same actor.

Revising the script

Although the novelised version was first published in 1911, Barrie did not publish the actual play until 1928.
  

The script was constantly rewritten, amended and added to until that time. Indeed, the concept of needing fairy dust to be able to fly was a later addition, necessitated because of the reports that several children had injured themselves when trying to fly from their beds or even windows! So fairy dust was introduced to deter any more accidents.

But the directions to Neverland have always remained the same: