It is often said that behind every great man there is a great woman and an expert on the influential Scottish author’s work has set out to prove there are sometimes several.
A freedom casket presented to Peter Pan creator Sir JM Barrie caused cultural waves this year as one small box fetched more than three times its asking price at auction before making its way back “home” to Angus.
Now enthusiasts will have the opportunity to hear about the women who helped him write the way he did as Sheila Philp gives a talk on whether or not Barrie was influenced “for good or bad”.
Ms Philp said conventional thinking about Barrie focuses on his relationships with male contemporaries such as HG Wells, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and AA Milne.
This is not always reflected in his books, which are full of strong female protagonists.
She quoted a line from Barrie’s proto-Suffrage play What Every Woman Knows from 1909: “Every man who is high up loves to think he has done it all himself. And the wife laughs and lets it go at that.”
She added. “What I wanted to do was look at him from a different perspective, from the point of view of four women who had a big impact on his life.
“Many of his novels have women as heroines and were much stronger characters than the men in his books.
“We do tend to look at Barrie and think ‘Peter Pan’ but this is a different way of looking at him.”
Ms Philp, who was the National Trust for Scotland’s property manager at Barrie’s Birthplace in Kirriemuir and lived in his former home Strath View, was tight-lipped about the women she thinks played the biggest part in Barrie’s life, indicating that the talk on November 27 will reveal all.
The Freedom Casket, which went on public display for the first time in 75 years two months ago, will also be on display at the Gateway to the Glens Museum when the talk starts at 7pm.
Earlier this year Angus Council, with the support of the Art Fund and the National Fund for Acquisitions, became the new owners of the casket after buying the silver box, together with the original Burgess ticket conferring Barrie’s freedom of Kirriemuir, for £7,200 at a sale at an auction house in Somerset.
Admission to the talk and display is free but booking is advised to avoid disappointment.
The museum is open from 10am to 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday, and can be contacted on 01575 575479 or by email to kirriegateway@angus.gov.uk.