Next week, from 2 - 5 September 2009 on the Edinburgh International Festival, the acclaimed avant garde American theatre company Mabou Mines, presents a production called "Peter and Wendy". It promises to be a fresh, imaginative re-interpretation of Peter Pan, the little boy who would not grow up.
Director Lee Breuer worked with the late Johnny Cunningham, one of Scotland's finest fiddlers and composers, to create a magical, Celtic show to get to the original romantic heart of Barrie' story.
As Breuer himself emphasises, Peter Pan "was inspired by Barrie's homeland." It is a production which acknowledges the essence of Scottishness through Cunningham's score with its emotional sensibility.
Currently the Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust, a group of local Dumfries residents, admirers of Barrie, architects and supporters of cultural heritage, is campaigning to save Moat Brae, a Listed B mansion house in Dumfries. Moat Brae was purchased in 2008 by Loreburn Housing Association (LHA) and having allowed the house to fall into serious disrepair, in May of this year LHA announced their intention to demolish the house.
What is the connection between Moat Brae and the author, J M Barrie? In 1873, on his first day as a pupil at Dumfries Academy, Barrie befriended the Gordon boys, sons of a local solicitor whose family were then living at Moat Brae. Stuart Gordon shared Barrie's appetite for high adventure, and invited him to join his pirate crew.
"...when the shades of night began to fall, certain young mathematicians shed their triangles, crept up walls and down trees, and became pirates in a sort of Odyssey that was long afterwards to become the play of Peter Pan. For our escapades in a certain Dumfries Garden, which is enchanted land to me, were certainly the genesis of that nefarious work." (JM Barrie, Speech on being awarded the Freedom of Dumfries, 11 December 1924)
The garden of Moat Brae house is clearly the inspiration for Peter Pan. Built in 1823, Moat Brae is of exceptional architectural quality, featuring a central saloon, gallery and cupola and despite structural deterioration and decay, the interior plasterwork and design features are preserved.
It is therefore extremely topical that Breuer's production should come to Edinburgh this year. The Royal Lyceum Theatre has also coincidentally selected Peter Pan for their Christmas Show 2009.
Please help to save Moat House, the birthplace of Peter Pan.
Send letters of support and donations for the work of the Trust which needs to raise significant funds to secure the repair, restoration of the house and its garden for the benefit of Dumfries and the literary heritage of Scotland.
Email [email protected] if you would like to become involved; or to offer your support - specific or general, in cash or in kind.
The Trustees
Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust
c/o 24 Queen Street
Dumfries DG1 2JF www.moatbrae.org
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