ABSTRACT
Peter Pan is a story full of games, of make-believe, and play-acting, and the shadow is the focus of one of the many games that is staged in the nursery. Inspected by Mr and Mrs Darling, hidden in a drawer and then sought high and low by its owner and Tinker Bell, it is the focus of an elaborate game of hide-and-seek that foreshadows the search for Peter’s identity throughout the story. There are various seekers involved in this game: Peter Pan himself, in quest of his shadow; Wendy, desperate to discover the true nature of Peter Pan; the pirate Captain Hook, equally desperate to trap his mortal enemy; and the readers (or spectators) themselves, increasingly puzzled as to what kind of creature they are dealing with.
