By JM Barrie

Peter Pan Visual Story Olivier Theatre, National Theatre Relaxed Performance, Saturday 21 January 2017, 2pm

This visual story is designed for visitors to the Relaxed Performance of Peter Pan.

Relaxed Performances are for people who will benefit from a more relaxed performance environment, including people with an Autism Spectrum Condition, sensory and communication disorders, or a learning disability.

This visual story contains information about the play and lots of images to help you prepare for your visit. It also has information to help you find your way to the Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre, where the show is being performed.

1 General Information about the Olivier Theatre and the National Theatre.

Where is the play? The play is being performed at the Olivier Theatre which is inside the National Theatre on the South Bank in London.

Here is a picture of the National Theatre.

There are lots of entrances into the building and you may enter through some automatic glass doors, into the ground floor foyer. A foyer is an area where you wait before the show.

Here is a picture of the National Theatre foyer where there is a bookshop and a café.

2 To get to the Oliver Theatre auditorium (the room where the show is performed) you need to go to the second floor if you are sitting in the Stalls (the lower part of the auditorium) and to the third floor if you are sitting in the Circle (the upper part of the auditorium).

You can walk up the stairs or take the lift. There are 69 steps to the second floor and 125 to the third floor.

You wil need your ticket to get into the auditorium. You might already have yours when you arrive but if not, you can pick them up from the Box Office (the place where tickets are sold on the second floor.)

Your ticket has the information you need to find your seat to sit in to watch the show. You can see which aisle (row of seat) you are sitting on and which number your seat is.

3 You may need to wait in the Olivier Theatre foyer before the doors to the auditorium are opened before the show starts. Other audience members (people who watch the show) may be waiting there to watch the show so it might be busy.

If you would like to put a bag or a coat in the cloakroom (a room for storing bags and coats) then you need to go to the first floor. Any large bag will need to be left in the cloakroom. This includes rucksacks so if there are things you need to take into the auditorium please bring a small bag.

On the first floor there is an interactive exhibition called ‘Art of Make-Believe’ which you can visit before or after the show. In it, there are lots of things for you to try, like putting on costumes (clothes that actors wear in shows) that you can try on, or you can play with sound effects!

When you go to the auditorium an usher will look at your ticket and tell you where your seat is. An usher is someone who works at the theatre and is available to help.

They wear uniforms like the person in the picture so you will know who they are. 4 When you enter the auditorium you will be able to see the stage (the area where the actors perform the show) and the seats where the audience sits.

This is what the stage will look like before the performance of Peter Pan begins. The things you can see, like the bed, are called the ‘set’.

5 Good to know!

You will be able to buy drinks and small snacks to eat during the play if you would like to. You can also bring your own small snacks and cold drinks into the auditorium too.

You will be able to enter and exit the auditorium when you need to. There is a chill out area available outside the auditorium doors and you will be able to watch what is happening on stage on a monitor. A monitor is a tv screen which show you what is happeneing on stage.

This show is 2 hours and 30 minutes long and is shown in two halves with an interval in the middle (an interval is a short break in the show).

The fi rst half is 70 minutes. The interval is 20 minutes. The second half is 60 minutes.

6 The stage and the set

Peter Pan is about a boy called Peter who has never grown up and can fly. He meets the children of the Darling family and travels with them to Neverland, where they meet his friends (the Lost Boys). Peter is in an ongoing fight with Captain Hook and his pirates – they are trying to capture Peter Pan. There is a longer explanation of the story on the next page.

There are two worlds in this play – the real world (that we live in) and Neverland. We can tell which world we are in if we look at the ‘set’ on the ‘stage’.

The stage is the area where the actors perform the play. The set is made up of all the things on or around and above the stage which change and make it look like different places.

This is the nursery in the real world.

This is Neverland.

This is the pirate’s ship.

7 The Characters in the play

This is Wendy.

This is Wendy’s brother, John.

This is Wendy’s brother, Michael.

This is Captain Hook. The actor also plays Mrs Darling.

8 This is Smee, this actor also plays Mr Darling and one of the Twins.

This is Peter Pan.

This is Tinker Bell or ‘Tink’. This actor also plays one of the Lost Boys called Curly.

This is Tiger Lily. This actor also plays one of the Lost Boys called Slightly.

9 This is one of the Lost Boys called Nibs. This actor also plays Jane.

This is one of the Lost Boys called Tootles. This actor also plays Nana.

These are the Twins

These are the musicians

There is lots of singing and music and there are musicians playing instruments on the stage and sometimes at the side of the stage.

10 All of the actors playing Lost Boys also play Pirates, Mermaids and wolves.

Here are the Pirates

Here are the Mermaids

Here are Tiger Lily’s wolves.

Here is the Crocodile

The Crocodile is a puppet that is held by the actors

11 Show Notes

Spoiler Alert! Below is an explanation of the play which explains most of the plot so please don’t read or share these pages if you don’t want to know! We have also provided notes below for those who would benefit from being prepared for some of the more dramatic or scary elements of the performance.

The actors fly across the stage using a harness that is clipped onto wires. In the show they call this ‘fairy string’. When one actor goes down the ladder they are using the weight of their body to pull the other actor up into the air. This is called counter weighting.

Captain Hook is a frightening character who wants to kill Peter Pan and talks about him being a ‘dead boy’. She also kills one of the pirates, Skylight and Peter Pan tries to kill one of the Lost Boys, Tootles. There are lots of weapons in the show including knives, guns and cannons.

Peter Pan’s shadow is a piece of cloth which is moved by puppeteers.

12 This is Nana, the nanny who is a female dog played by a male actor.

Tink is a female fairy played by a male actor. Tink speaks her own language which sounds a bit like English but is a made up language.

• There have been some adjustments to the sound and lighting in the play so that it is a more relaxing experience. There are speakers all around the auditorium and music and sounds come from these, which can sometimes be loud.

• Adult actors play children, male actors play female roles, and females play male roles.

• The auditorium will be open 30 minutes before the show begins so you can sit down in plenty of time before the performance starts.

• Please don’t take any photos or film the performance, but if you need to use an ipad for other reasons such as a communication system, then let our ushers know.

• If you have any additional questions, or if you would like to discuss your specific requirements, please contact the Relaxed Performance booking line on 020 7452 3961 or via email [email protected]

13 What is ‘Peter Pan’ about?

At the beginning of the show Wendy Darling is an adult and is tucking her daughter, Jane, up in bed when she starts to think about when she was a child. As she remembers her life when she was a little girl, different characters come onto stage and we are then watching Wendy as a child in her own bedroom with her mother, father and brothers, John and Michael. The Darling family are playing and talking in the children’s bedroom (this room is called a nursery in the show because this is what it would have been called when Wendy was little) and we meet Nana, the family’s dog who also looks after the children.

Mr and Mrs Darling go out to a party. When they leave and all the children are in bed, a ball of twinkling lights appears. This is Tinker Bell, the fairy. Peter Pan then appears in the nursery – he has come to look for his shadow, which he has lost. Wendy wakes up and helps Peter to reattach his shadow.

Wendy wakes up her brothers and using magic fairy string, they fly off to Neverland with Peter and Tinker Bell. Neverland is a magical world in the play and the characters travel there by flying and following the directions ‘second on the right and straight on ’til morning’.

We see the Wendy, John, Michael, Peter Pan and Tinker Bell fly off to Neverland through planets and clouds. When they fly above Neverland the pirates try to shoot them with cannons.

The next part of the play is in Neverland. This magical world is where Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Tiger Lily, the Lost Boys (Peter Pan’s friends) and also Captain Hook and her evil pirate crew live. Captain Hook got her name because a crocodile bit off her hand and she replaced it with a hook. Hook blames Peter Pan for the crocodile eating her hand, and so she is his enemy and wants to kill him. Hook knows when the crocodile is near as it ate her watch and she can hear it ticking. The pirates and the Lost Boys are also enemies and are always fighting with each other. The first characters we meet are the Lost Boys.

We then see Tiger Lily and her friends, the wolves, who come to warn the Lost Boys that the pirates are coming. Everybody hides and the pirates 14 arrive. The pirates are trying to find Peter Pan. They sing songs about the horrible things they would like to do to Peter Pan like this, ‘Pull his little jacket off… Bite his little fingers off.’ One of the pirates, Skylight, upsets Hook and is killed by her.

The next part of the show is in the Lost Boys’ home where Peter and Tinker Bell live too. One of the Lost Boys, Tootles, accidentally shoots Wendy, who he thinks is a ‘Wendy Bird’. Tinker Bell pretended that Wendy is a Wendy Bird and told the Lost Boys that Peter wanted them to shoot it down. Peter is very angry when he thinks Tootles has killed Wendy but luckily she is not hurt. When Wendy wakes up, the Lost Boys decide that she can be their ‘mother’ and look after them. The Darlings and the Lost Boys play games and generally mess about.

Tiger Lily appears and she has a fight with Peter Pan but it soon turns into a dance. Wendy also appears and she and Peter set off for an adventure. John and Michael follow them, and as they are leaving Wendy hears Tiger Lily’s wolves, who are howling. Wendy can understand the wolves, and says they are telling them that ‘Tiger Lily has been captured by pirates!’ Peter, Wendy, Michael and John set off to save Tiger Lily. They all go to the Mermaid Lagoon but unfortunately the mermaids are very cruel. The mermaids try to drown John but they don’t succeed.

We then see Tiger Lily, Smee and another pirate on a little boat. They are taking Tiger Lily to Marooner’s Rock to leave her there to die. Peter and Wendy are watching and Peter pretends to be Captain Hook and asks the pirates to let Tiger Lily go. They believe the voice is Captain Hook’s and let her go. Peter Pan, Wendy, Tiger Lily, John and Michael attack Hook and the pirates and they fight on Marooner’s Rock. Captain Hook can hear the crocodile which bit off her hand. Hook is very frightened of the crocodile. A big battle happens and Hook stabs Peter with her hook. The crocodile appears and chases Hook away. Wendy takes a kite back to land but Peter stays on the rock and he thinks he might die there as he cannot fly. We think that Peter Pan has died but, remember, you don’t need to worry as this is not real.

15 The show then has an interval (a short break).

When the show starts again we see Captain Hook who is getting dressed with Smee’s help. She sings a song about wanting to kill Peter Pan and Smee sends the pirates out to find the Lost Boys’ home.

In the next part of the play in the next part of the play in the Lost Boys underground den Wendy tells the Lost Boys about how Peter Pan escaped from Marooner’s Rock so we know he is alive. Peter comes in and they all play games and pretend to be mummies and daddies until Wendy tells a story about her life with her parents. The Lost Boys feel sad because they miss their mothers so Wendy suggests that they all come back to the real world with her and Mr and Mrs Darling will adopt them (this means that the Lost Boys will be Mr and Mrs Darling’s children and live in their house). They think this is a great idea and set off with Wendy. Peter doesn’t go with them. He doesn’t want to go to the real world because he doesn’t believe mothers are good people and will have to grow up so he stays on Neverland.

Peter falls asleep and the pirates kidnap the Lost Boys and Wendy. Hook finds Peter asleep next to his medicine bottle and decides to put poison in it so that when Peter drinks it he will die. Tinker Bell sees this and, before Peter can drink it, she drinks it. We think she has died but then we all clap our hands and Tinker Bell is fine. Tinker Bell tells Peter that Wendy and the Lost Boys have been kidnapped so Peter sets out to rescue them.

In the next part of the play there is a huge fight on board the pirate ship. Peter appears which surprises Hook. The pirates fight the Lost Boys and all the pirates die. Peter fights Hook whilst Tiger Lily saves Wendy, who is tied to the ship. Captain Hook gets her hook stuck in the ship and when she pulls it out blood spurts from her arm (this isn’t real blood). The crocodile arrives and waits in the water to try to kill Captain Hook. Hook has no chance of winning as all of the pirates are dead and she is surrounded, so she jumps into the crocodile’s mouth and is eaten by him.

The next part of the show is back in the real world in the children’s nursery where Mr and Mrs Darling are upset because they cannot find the children. Wendy and the Darling brothers then appear and ask their parents if the Lost Boys can live with them and they agree. Peter appears in the nursery to say goodbye – he wants to go back to Neverland. 16 In the last part of the show we are back in the present time when Wendy is a grown-up and she is tucking up her daughter, Jane in bed. Peter Pan appears and offers to teach Jane to fly and take her to Neverland. All the characters fly around the stage. The show is then finished.

If you have any additional questions, or if you would like to discuss your specific requirements, please contact the Relaxed Performance booking line on 020 7452 3961 or via email [email protected]

We hope you enjoy the performance.

From the NT Access Team

Production photography is taken by Steve Tanner Peter Pan artwork by Sam Robinson Thank you to Kirsty Hoyle, Include Arts

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