Feelings in the Shadow

By Jay Manari

“Feelings in the Shadow" is a romance-fantasy that unfolds the drama of Peter Pan trapped in an unfair, modern-age, dystopia of Neverland, diminished into a circus of infamous and spoilt artists, who are slowly turned into the best-selling marketing tools.
Talented yet penniless writer, Peter works as an acrobat at Neverland Circus, managed
by the chief clown, Mr. Smee, and owned by the billionaire advertiser Sir James Hook,
now Wendy's husband.
Narrated through the eyes of the first actress that ever-played Peter Pan, “Feelings in the Shadow” unveils the darkest sides of Peter Pan’s original script, its alternative ending, and above all its drastic changes before its first appearance at the Duke of York Theatre on the 28th December 1904.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Jan 31, 2019
• ISBN: 9781543494259

Jay Manari

Jay Manari is an Italian Film Director, Writer and Visual Artist with experience working in films, TV series, and music videos both in Europe (Italy) and in the U.S (California - Los Angeles & New York). In the Film Industry, Jay has held numerous professional roles. In LA, Jay began as Executive Development Assistant and Camera Operator at the Los Angeles Film School. In 2014, Jay founded ManarìFilmArts, a sole-trader company that produced fictions, documentaries, promo, and music videos for third parties, and is currently working on the preproduction of "Feelings In The Shadow" feature film. Since January 2018, Jay has been working as Creative Art Director for MiraBan LTD Company, a polyhedric, British Art Company located in London (UK), which founded "MiraBanART Showcase", an itinerary art exhibition running throughout the most strategic Italian cities, and “MiraBan UK Film Awards”, a film festival created by and for independent producers, launched for the very first time at the Electric Cinema of London in December 2018.

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Copyright © 2019 by Jay Manari.

ISBN:                Softcover                    978-1-5434-9424-2

                         eBook                           978-1-5434-9425-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 01/30/2019

Xlibris

800-056-3182

www.Xlibrispublishing.co.uk

786183

Contents

Prefatio

PART ONE

The Acting Class

Kensington Gardens

It’s Show Time at the Duke of York!

Hook’s Syndrome

Pretenders and Believers

Dearest Ocean, The Dreamer Prays

PART TWO

Neverland Circus

Peter’s Memories

Goodnight, My Dear

The Nightmare or Peter’s Identity

Backlight

Peter’s Hidden Kiss

Levitating or Flying

PART THREE

Feelings in the Shadow

Hilda’s Parents

Author’s Notes: Living in the Shadow

Dedicated to all children

that managed to grow up without growing old.

To Felicina Colagrande,

                                               my grandmother

                   "Fruere quae laudas, canis; regnare

                   nolo, liber ut non sim mihi."

                                                   (Fedro, Libro III)

                   "Enjoy what you praise, dog. Better to give up

                   a kingdom than lose freedom."

                   (Fedro, Libro III)

                                                   Fedro, Libro III)

Prefatio

P eter Pan is the personification of a fleeting dream, devoted to the revival of Youth, which persists in every individual, regardless of the biological age. Because of Pan, Youth corresponds to a countless, emotional age that tears down the existing boundaries in-between the teens and the adults, and becomes the way-out par excellence to explore the surreal world, and oneself. At its middle stage, Youth coincides with the disturbing guest , or a weak, nihilistic, and masochistic identity, which must be fought. Thus, Happiness can be reinvented as an uneasy but still walkable path, and Youth as an explosive passionate being whose inextinguishable light is voted to illuminate and free the world from its surrounding darkness.

Part One

The Acting Class

G randma Felix is sitting on the bleachers of The Duke of York Theatre where she is waiting for her twelve-years-old granddaughter, Hilda, who is having a rehearsal for the end-of-year show: Peter Pan.

During the acting