Peter Pan playwright has always loved the boy who could fly
These days actress-playwright Fiona Sauder is flying. Well, why wouldn’t she be? She’s playing Peter Pan.
Speaking from a writing retreat at a cottage in Renfrew County, Sauder’s taking time out from being Peter Pan to work on some new theatre projects.
She’s also got a cold. Something you can’t imagine author J.M. Barrie’s famous character tolerating. Probably Peter would fly off to Neverland for a sunny holiday, or get Tinkerbell to give him some efficacious medicine.
Sauder has always loved the boy who could fly. She sees him as an elusive spirit, a reminder of the child within us, no matter what age we are. She sees him as a cautionary reminder we should never lose that child because he’s
elemental to keeping us full of wonder.
“When I was in Grade 1,” Sauder says, “I discovered the world of musical theatre. So, when I was old enough, I went to George
Brown Theatre School in Toronto. It was the only path for me.” Yes, it’s a hugely precarious one, jobs don’t come easily, but it’s also hugely satisfying, too.
You might be surprised to
know that Sauder and her writing partner Reanne Spitzer, along with their composer-lyricist Landon Doak, started their Peter Pan musical in a brewery. “The idea of Peter Pan came because
Landon told me I looked a lot like the character. I was wild about that notion because I’ve always loved Peter and his story.”
If you can imagine it, the completed “Peter Pan” went on a tour of five breweries in Toronto. Why, you might well ask?
“Because space was available to do the show in those places,” Sauder says. “We could have 100 people a performance and use the space for free. It was perfect. Since that unusual start, this incarnation of family theatre, first performed under the banner
of Bad Hats Theatre, has been presented at Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto and is now touring under the banner of Carousel Players.
“The show is a musical with a number of original songs. It’s very low-tech. The whole production folds up and fits in a truck. The magic happens from the audience using its imagination. It’s really all about audience participation. Tinkerbell, for instance, is a tennis ball that is passed around the stage. Sometimes she goes missing and rolls under something. That means we have to create a miracle and find another tennis ball.”
“So, this is all about delighting both children and adults with the games we’re playing. We are not about educating children you see. In the end, it’s the kids who have it right and the parents who need to be taught.”
“Peter Pan speaks to our ability to believe in things when we are young, to play imaginary games,” Sauder says. “Then life gets in the way. Suddenly it’s all about being grown-up and going to work. It’s about surviving. But you know there’s still room for imagination and play. We need to take time to open up our youthful sides.”
Sauder is clear about why Peter, a boy, is almost always played by a slim, boyish girl.
“Men have historically not played Peter Pan. But Peter is a little boy in the way he’s imagined, but not really a boy or a girl. He’s a spirit. Different actors take on different aspects of the character. And, of course, the novel comes from a time when gender was more specific. The book is dated in the way it views many things compared with how we view them today. There is pressure in the book to grow up, be a woman and be beautiful. It’s there in Wendy. But the relationship between Peter and Wendy is about a deep draw. It’s also about the way she wants to remain in the land of play forever, like Peter, but can’t.”
Sauder says if people think she is like Peter Pan she takes it as a compliment.
“People don’t always grow up being empathetic. We can grow up as people who behave, people who don’t always grow bigger hearts. I suppose in the end we need to accept who we are. The story of ‘Peter Pan’ is bittersweet because you are forced to face your childhood and know you’ll never have that again. But then, those of us who revere Peter say, ‘Yes, you can if you really want it.’ ”