PETER PAN

"All children have to grow up. All but one". That is a famous sentence with which J. M. Barrie introduces us to a very special boy - Peter Pan.  Summoned by the sound of Pan's flutes, the children of the Darling family will fly away spellbound through their bedroom window, eager for adventure and wonder, but also blissfully unaware of the pain and worry they will cause their parents. But as parents know very well, it is necessary to let children fly, but also leave a window open for them to come back when they want. In the world of Peter Pan, nothing is impossible and only imagination is the limit. Space and time mean nothing there, and Pan conducts adventures unencumbered by obligations, aging and mortality. It's a seductive world and it's easy to get stuck in it and forget how necessary it is to stay anchored in reality, although it is sometimes tiring with its overwhelming demands and duties. With this story, J. M. Barrie encourages us to think about the balance between dreaming and facing the challenges of the real world and warns that Pan's call should be answered with caution. Wendy, John and Michael will remember in time that their mother is waiting for them and that there is their real home. Although Peter tried to convince them that leaving his wonderful, dreamy place means eternal exile from the world of imagination, J. M. Barrie as a creative, grown man who managed to nurture the imaginative child inside him all his life, shows us with this story that there are countless ways to grow up, and  still keep the fairy dust in us that will open the windows of imagination, creativity and fulfillment. It is this echo of Peter's pipes that we hear in the space between sleep and reality that allows us to be poets, inventors, visionaries or - puppeteers.

Petra Mrduljaš