Photo Flash: First Look at Open Air Theatre's PETER PAN; Production Remembers George Llewelyn Davies

Sunday 15 March marks the centenary of the date that George Llewelyn Davies died in action during the First World War. George was the eldest of the Llewelyn Davies children and, along with brother Michael, was one of J.M.Barrie's favourite boys who inspired him to create the characters of Peter Pan and the lost boys.

To honour this pivotal date, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in association with Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity, releases images from the J.M. Barrie archive, including the last letter written to Barrie by George Llewelyn Davies from the trenches the day before his death at the age of 21.

Also released is the first image for Regent's Park Open Air Theatre's production of Peter Pan which will run from 15 May - 14 June 2015. Remembering Llewelyn Davies and a generation of lost boys, the play will open on the Western Front of World War I. Full cast and creative team for the production will be announced in due course. The production is recommended for ages 9+.

George was born on 20 July 1893. J. M. Barrie first met George (aged 4 years old) in Kensington Gardens and became primary guardian of the boys in 1910 when George was 17 years old following the death of his father (Arthur) on 19 April 1907 and his mother (Sylvia) on 27 August 1910.

In 1901 Barrie had printed two copies of a photo essay book of his adventures with the Davies boys, entitled The Boy Castaways of Black Lake Island. The following year he published another set of adventures in a novel called The Little White Bird. In a story-within-a-story, the narrator tells "David" (George Llewelyn Davies) about Peter Pan, a seven-day-old boy who flies away from his parents to live with fairies. All children start out as birds, the story goes, but soon forget how to fly. Peter eventually flies home, and tearfully sees through his nursery window that his mother is holding a new baby and has forgotten him. Now Peter Pan can never go home and will never grow up. The Little White Bird was popular, and readers begged Barrie to give them more of that new character, Peter Pan.

Peter Pan was given the same age as George (10 years old) when Barrie begins writing the play in 1903.

George was educated at Eton College, and then Trinity College Cambridge where he joined the Amateur Dramatic Club. He enrolled for WW1 in 1914 (along with Uncle, Guy du Maurier). He received commission as a second lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps and served in Flanders. On 15 March 1915, George died of a gunshot wound to the head. He was 21 years old.

Box Office: 0844 826 4242. Online Bookings: www.openairtheatre.com. First Preview: 15 May. Press night: 21 May (7.45pm). Performances: Tue - Sun (7.45pm); matinees Thurs, Sat & Sun (2.15pm). No matinee on 16 or 21 May.

Archive photos courtesy of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity.

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