Dumfries-garden inspired 'Peter Pan for grown-ups' revived
- Published
The gardens at Moat Brae are thought to have inspired both Peter Pan and Dear Brutus
A second play inspired by the Dumfries gardens where JM Barrie played as a child is returning to the stage.
The writer credited his time at Moat Brae as helping to create the "enchanted land" of his most famous work, Peter Pan.
However, in Dear Brutus he puts adults "with all their faults and mistakes" into a "magical Neverland".
The rarely performed play opens at the Southwark Playhouse in London later this month.
It tells the story of eight strangers invited to stay in an "enchanted wood".
The work - being staged to mark the play's centenary year - has been described as "darkly comic" and "Barrie at his most magical".
It comes while work is ongoing to convert the building in southern Scotland which inspired him into a national centre for children's literature.
Rehearsals are continuing for the production which gets under way later this month
The Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust said it was "fascinating" to see the work being performed again for new audiences 100 years after it was first written.
"Dear Brutus is often described as 'Peter Pan for grown-ups' which is a theme we are exploring for Moat Brae," said a spokeswoman.
"The garden at Moat Brae is most famous for its role in inspiring Barrie's original 'enchanted land'."
She said there were also "many resonances" in Dear Brutus of Kirriemuir-born Barrie's formative five years in Dumfries which were his "happiest days".
Dear Brutus is being performed at the Southwark Playhouse
"Here he escaped previous family tragedy, playing pirates with friends in the 'enchanted land' at Moat Brae and experiencing a freedom within a natural landscape that he later referred to as 'the genesis of that nefarious work, Peter Pan'," she added.
She said it underlined Barrie's importance as a playwright that Dear Brutus would be performed in London almost exactly 140 years after his first play, Bandelero the Bandit, was staged in Dumfries.
"It is no coincidence that Barrie's plays have endured," she said.
"This production in London brings a fresh, new perspective to new audiences in a time when they seem particularly relevant - when the concept of a second chance to revisit decisions taken in the recent past is particularly enticing.
"This all bodes well for the new Moat Brae which will open at the end of 2018 and we hope to welcome many visitors of all ages from across the world to Barrie's inspirational 'enchanted land'."