Tinker Bell's near-death scene

[jon.reeve]

Hi Everyone,
I'm writing a paper about Tinker Bell's near-death scene, when Peter turns to the audience and requests that they affirm their belief in fairies. I find it really interesting because the audience, both children and adults, are put in a position where they must applaud in order for the play to continue, and in applauding they profess their belief in fairies, which in all likelihood is not true. There are many layers, I think, of belief, theatricality, and suspension of disbelief. Complicating all of this is this real history of the "fairy-faith," and the Victorian fascination with fairy myth.

I would be very interested to find a copy of an early draft of the play, if someone has a link or a file. I hear Yale has a copy, but I'd rather not go all the way to New Haven to discover that the scene as was first produced is exactly the same as in the 1920's version.

Also, if anyone happens to know about any secondary material (scholarly articles, for instance) that discuss this scene, please let me know.

J. Reeve

[TheWendybird]

I believe with all my heart

[AlexanderDavid]

I don't know of any such secondary material, I'm sorry to say, but I can give my interpretation of that scene....

We don't know Tinker Bell very well in the story.  And what little we do know about her makes her rather unlikeable.  If the revival scene were all about Tinker Bell I don't think too many people would care much if she lived or died.  Peter himself doesn't really seem to care much for fairies--note how heartlessly he says that whenever a child says "I do not believe in fairies" a fairy falls down dead.  Besides which he banished Tinker Bell for a week (and initially it was to have been for EVER) for what she tried to do to Wendy.  And we know he's ungrateful from having taken credit for reattaching his shadow when it was Wendy who did all the work.  Hence we're not expecting him to care much if Tink lives or dies.

However, when Peter sees Tinker Bell on the verge of dying from the poisoned medicine, which she drank to save Peter's life, literally EVERYONE Peter ever cared anything about is gone.  He's alone.  Wendy's gone, her brothers are gone, the Lost Boys are gone.  Only Tinker Bell has remained to him.  And we know from earlier in the act that Peter has felt abandoned by his mother when he tried to go home and the window was barred.  That's why he tried to "replace" HER with Wendy.

Now Tinker Bell is the only one left to him, and he's in danger of losing her as well, and being all alone, and this is the last thing Peter Pan wants, wonderful boy though he is.  So when he appeals to the audience, we're not clapping so much for Tink's sake as for PETER's.  "Don't let Tink die" really means "Don't let Peter Pan be all alone!"

That's my take on it, anyway....

[GOSH]

Some questions about early editions or scripts of the play have been covered in an earlier post ('Original version of play') in this forum, which you might find helpful. A great book about early productions is Roger Lancelyn Green's '50 Years of Peter Pan' published in 1954 and his later book 'JM Barrie' published in 1960, both by Peter Davies Publishing. Copies can be found on Abebooks and other second hand books websites, or in reference libraries. Hope this helps. Good luck with your research and keep us informed on your paper's publication!
Christine

[KStirling]

There is an article by Tracy C. Davies called "Do you believe in fairies?: the hiss of dramatic license" in Theatre Journal 57 (2005): 57-81. The most interesting thing is that she focuses on the line in both the novel and the 1928 play's stage direction which says "many clap, some don't, a few hiss" (i.e. Barrie writes in the possibility that some audience members will refuse to believe/ play the game). And she moves through sections titled "willing suspension of disbelief", "active creation of disbelief" etc, which sounds like the kind of thing you are discussing. Hope that helps! And, this site contains a transcription of Anon: A Play which (I think! someone correct me if I'm wrong) is the transcription of the holograph manuscript of PP that's in the Lilly Library, University of Indiana. Thus predates the first performance, and still has the Tinkerbell moment - see the end of scene 3.

[zeff]

pls dont make one..ilove tinkerbell