Giles Scott

Hook and Peter Pan: How It All Began Giles Scott

"HOOK AND PETER PAN" (HOW IT ALL BEGAN) Registered with UK IP Rights Office, Copyright Registration Service. Ref: 1886074449 Among the many ways in which the original theatrical production of "Peter Pan" was ahead of its time was the extent to which it started the story in the middle, as it were; stipulating, with little explanation and no apology, the fantasy world of Neverland in which Peter Pan and Captain Hook live. Creating such a 'parallel universe' may seem commonplace today but must have astonished audiences in 1904. While we can accept that Neverland and its inhabitants have just always been there and magic is part of the fabric of that fantastic land, there was an anomaly in this famous story that needed to be addressed. Peter Pan himself came to Neverland as a baby from the real world, surely not bringing with him any super-human qualities. Why, how and when does he, of all the people in Neverland, get certain magical powers? When so much has been written about Peter Pan, and so many adaptations and sequels of the stage play have been written, performed and filmed, it is strange that no real effort has been made to explain his two most famous and unusual features: why does he not grow up and how can he fly? The musical "Hook and Peter Pan" was written and staged (originally under the title of "Neverland") to provide the answer to these, and indeed many other, questions left unanswered in the classic tale. The musical production received enthusiastic reviews and played to full houses throughout its extended run. Now this prequel to the classic tale has been written as a children's story, capturing all the excitement and fun of the well-known characters in an entirely original adventure, guaranteed to capture the hearts of a whole new generation of children - and their parents, who never realised how many unanswered questions they still had from their happy childhood memories of "Peter Pan"!