摘要：The study attempts to identify as far as possible, the "justifications" of a long-lived dramatic tradition, at least in England: the role of Peter Pan, the prototype of the narcissistic and evasive masculinity, avoiding responsibility, is usually interpreted by a (young) actress. While avoiding the clichés of a psychoanalytic approach (however tempting this may be! ), the author consider two other plausible explanations (which are complementary) of this this theatrical practice so widespread: 1) the influence of British pantomime, kind of entertainment set in the last decades of the nineteenth-century and very popular among the English during the season of Christmas; in this type of de performance, cross-dressing or as a trigger-work fun or as a reminder of the convention stage, and the leading man (the principal boy) is always played by a svelte actress, with a teenager’s charm , somehow ambiguous; 2) the playwright’s concern for the accuracy, for the subtlety and the richness of the artistic interpretation: he simply distrusted the ability of a boy to satisfy its requirements and to play adequately a role that complex; a young actress at the slender figure and, in the same, nervous could pass for a boy and, furthermore, it could use all her professional strengths; an adult actor, despite the necessary competence, would be too masculine for the character pre-pubescent (moreover, Barrie has never ruled out the variation of a male actor for Peter; only he did not have the chance to find one which seemed made for the role).
