YOUNG actor Ross Whalen is to play the role of writer JM Barrie as part of the celebrations for the re-opening of the Scottish house which inspired Peter Pan.
The event, featuring the school drama club established by Barrie who was inspired by the gardens of Moat Brae house in Dumfries, will take place on 24 November.
The club will perform an evening of drama and music in front of audience including actress Joanna Lumley, who is patron of Moat Brae.
'Staged' takes place at Dumfries Academy on 24 November, where the teenage JM Barrie studied from 1873-78, as part of the Dreams for the Future Festival in Dumfries.
A revamped Moat Brae house and gardens which will open to the public next spring as the new National Centre for Children’s Literature and Storytelling after a £5.7m project.
Ms Whalen said:“JM Barrie is such a well-loved figure and it's such an honour to be able to bring him to life onstage in celebration of his work and 140 years of drama at Dumfries Academy.
"Researching and writing this play with my friends has been a rewarding experience.”
Staged will also see The Theatre Royal Junior Guild of Players perform the first full production of Bandelero the Bandit since 1877.
Barrie’s earliest play, he wrote it as a 17-year-old student at the academy.
It generated national controversy after being condemned in the press by local minister the Rev D L Scott as “grossly immoral” and appealing to “the irreligious, the frivolous, the giddy”.
The play is a "melodramatic tale of misunderstandings in which an attempt is made to free the unfortunate Bandelero who has been captured and accused of a murder he didn’t commit."
Moat Brae is next door to the Academy and is where the young JM Barrie and his friends played the games that inspired Peter Pan.
It has been rescued from dereliction and restored.
Work is now underway to fit it out with exhibitions and interactive displays.
The project to save the building where Peter Pan began and turn it into the National Centre for Children’s Literature and Storytelling has been run by the Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust (PPMBT) whose Patron is Ms Lumley.
Simon Davidson, Moat Brae’s Centre Director, said: "Staged is a really exciting event because it is bringing together so many young people, with so many skills and talents in a real celebration of their creativity. We are particularly pleased that Joanna will be joining us for the evening.
“We want Moat Brae to be a really inspirational place that gives young people the opportunity to get involved with all sorts of exciting events and activities.
“The whole Dreams for the Future Festival has been co-curated by young people and gives a foretaste of what we hope to achieve in the years ahead.”
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