'Peter and Wendy' brings magic of Neverland back

Published: Tuesday, November 25, 1997

Tuesday, November 25, 1997

THEATER Adaptation of story reminisces about childhood using puppets

By Kristi Nakamura

Daily Bruin Contributor

"All at once her own childhood hovered around her and in it the shadow of Peter."

One night he came and changed her life forever, with his messy brown hair, unkempt, tattered clothes and still in possession of all his first teeth. He took her and flew her away out the bedroom window, over the gloom of the grown-up city to those magic shores where children play forever.

Neverland, the mystical land of eternal childhood, comes to the Geffen Playhouse in December, courtesy of the Mabou Mines theater company for a special holiday presentation of "Peter and Wendy."

Springing from the minds of Mabou Mines, the experimental theater group that, among other things, created a three-part epic about the life of a dog and cast a woman as King Lear, this adaptation of J.M. Barrie's classic story is not your typical production.

"When children find fantasy more attractive than being mothered, they leave and then they become scared that they are going to lose their mothers, and they return from their fantasies," says director Lee Breuer. "But little by little, kids learn that our life in the world is our fantasies becoming real."

The play is staged around a grown-up Wendy remembering her childhood as the story unfolds around her. The action never actually leaves her room or her memory. As Wendy reminisces, her room transforms with the sheets on the children's beds becoming the sails of the pirate ship.

In the role of Wendy, actress Karen Kandel puts on a one-woman show of sorts. As the only actual human character on the stage, Kandel not only plays Wendy, but provides narration for the story and the voices for at least 15 puppet characters that seem almost real.

"When you see these puppets which are so lifelike but so obviously dolls, its very sort (is) evocative of how this is about imagination, that these characters are both absolutely real and not so," says producer and play adapter Liza Lorwin.

The puppets are Japanese bunraku puppets, each one requiring three white linen-draped puppeteers to operate. The puppet movements, choreographed in front of a mirror, attempt to create the illusion of human movement.

"Bunraku is a dance form. You see, the three people have to move like three dancers. The lead puppeteer goes left, and they all have to move simultaneously if it is to go right," says Breuer, who studied at UCLA in the early 1970s. "If it's not dance, it's wrong. These puppeteers are actors who work as pianists. It comes out of their hands. All of that emotion is coming out their fingers."

Although children might be entranced by the puppets as living dolls, the "Peter and Wendy" Mabou Mines offers to the audiences in Westwood is a far cry from the cute, child-friendly, happily-ever-after Disney version.

"I adapted (the Mabou Mines version of 'Peter and Wendy') from the novel, and, to me, the novel is really much darker and more lyrical than the (original 1904) play," Lorwin says. "I really think there's a meditation on loss of childhood and love out of reach, and that's far more wistful than the play, and therefore, it's really much more for adults."

That is not to say that "Peter and Wendy" will not be interesting to children. After opening off-Broadway last February, Variety published a review marveling at the show's "power to hold an audience of small children while their adult companions weep over matters that the younger viewers will not understand for years to come."

Another original twist Mabou Mines adds to their adaptation of "Peter and Wendy" is the presence of live musical accompaniment. Scottish composer Johnny Cunningham created the hauntingly nostalgic score for the show.

"Of course, J.M. Barrie himself was Scottish, and one of the things we felt early on was that the sort of Scottish rhythms that were clearly in Barrie's head were really evident in his writing and that Scottish music would support those rhythms in a really beautiful way," Lorwin says.

Through "Peter and Wendy," Mabou Mines clearly shows that they can relate to the sad, sentimental yearning for childhood that Barrie so clearly communicated in his writing. While the character of Peter is truly a magic boy, Lorwin hopes the audience will see that the real magic is not in Neverland, but in children playing with toys.

"The last thing he ever said to me was, 'Just always be waiting for me, and then some night you will hear me crowing,'" an adult Wendy recalls.

Maybe for audiences in Westwood, the blurring of fantasy and reality that comes from the imagination of a 5-year-old eternal child can bring some respite from the encompassing hustle and bustle, end-of-quarter finals, holiday travel, shopping-mall crowds and other stresses.

"If only I could go with you," Wendy cries longingly to Peter as he flies away to Neverland with her daughter, Jane. If only we all could go with you, Peter Pan.

THEATER: "Peter and Wendy" will play at the Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave. in Westwood Dec. 4-28. Preview performances are Dec. 2-3. Preview tickets are $23 for adults and $10 for children. Regular performance tickets are $27.50-$37.50 for adults and $17.50-$37.50 for children. Student rush tickets are available for $15. For more information, call (310) 208-5454 .

Geffen Playhouse

Karen Kandel stars in "Peter and Wendy" at the Geffen Playhouse.