KENSINGTON GARDENS - Peter Pan

Exercise 3: Key stage 4What situations can test friendships? e.g. bullying, accidents, family snobbery, a fight...Working in groups of 4, ask the students to create a scene in which friendships are tested. One of the groupmust play a loyal friend and one a disloyal friend. How do they clash?Thought tappingOnce the scenes have been created they should be performed to the rest of the group. As any point during thepresentation of a scene you can ask the actors to freeze. Once they are still you can tap each actor on the headand ask them to speak their inner thoughts about the situation aloud to the audience, one at a time.The scene can then continue.LOVE AND JEALOUSYA confusion exists at the heart of Peter Pan over the role of the women in the story and the relationship they havewith Peter. Peter is only able to see the role of women as one of platonic friend or mother figure; this confirmshis lack of maturity. The girls in the story however are able to discern that another potential relationship exists forthem and Peter. The result is a competition between them for his affections that he doesn’t understand. In some ofBarrie’s early versions of Peter Pan, this was emphasized by additional scenes between Tiger Lily and Peter whichhe later removed in favor of more subtle suggestions. This ensures that the comedy that results from Peter’smisunderstanding of their advances remains intact. Still, even in this new version, Tiger Lily’s advances are of amore sensual nature and contrast with Wendy’s idealized romantic notions.Wendy: What are your exact feelings for me Peter?Peter: What?Wendy: It’s a clear enough question; would you like me to repeat it?Peter: Like a devoted son, those are my feelings.Wendy: Just as I thought.Peter: You’re not going to dance for me, are you?Wendy: Dance for you?Peter: It’s just, Tiger Lily –Wendy: Danced for you, did she?Tinkerbell jingles.Peter: Yes.Wendy: (Handling the necklace) I suppose it was her who gave you this?Peter: She did. It felt like I should give her something in return.Wendy: I bet it did!Peter: But what could I give her, what would she want?Wendy: That’s not for a lady to tell.Peter: Tinkerbell, have you got any ideas?Wendy: Of course she has – she’d dance for you too, if only she knew how!Peter: Do they want to be my mother, do mothers dance?Discussion: Key stage 2Ask the group if they thought Tinkerbell was jealous of Wendy? Why might that have been? How does she feel?e. g: she was Peter’s best friend and now she feels unimportant. This makes her angry and sad.Does any of the group have a best friend? How would they feel if that person suddenly found a new best friend?27