A new outdoor stage production of Peter Pan will be performed on Portland, aiming to bring the community together.

Before beginning a nationwide tour in August, Dorset-based company SISATA will be bringing its four-hander children’s play to Church Ope Cove.

Writer and director Charmaine K. hopes to harness the spirit of the original novel while exploring a range of current issues from the climate emergency to culture wars between young and old generations.

She said: “There are lots of issues that have been used to cause division on Portland – the Bibby Stockholm, the waste incinerator. The camps seem to split along age lines and sometimes between those whose families have lived on Portland for a long time and relative newcomers.

 “At its heart, Peter Pan is a story about when and how to grow up, about the energy and innovation of youth and the strength and wisdom of experience. If we want to have a good future, a proper future as grown-ups, we have to work together to balance the two.

“We love casting members of the audience in our productions because it breaks down barriers, but the spirit and the characters created for our Utopian adaptation on Portland are universal.”

This version also introduces local twists to the classic story about a boy who never grows up such as a crocodile puppet based on the massive, fossilised skull of a pliosaur found at Kimmeridge.

Leading the cast will be Jake Baker as Peter Pan alongside Anna Takashima as Tink/Mrs Darling, Sophie Powell as Wendy, and Alastair Braidwood as Hook/Mr Darling.

While Arts University Bournemouth has been working on costume ideas, the script is currently still in the early stages of development along with music and accompaniment.