Jeremy - The Strange Relationship of Billy Moon and Christopher Robin

While working on the program I decided not to do a writer's note. I had some things that I wanted to talk about, but I thought it better not to bother you. Sometimes it may be better to just leave you alone and let you sit back and hopefully enjoy yourselves. My work is called dark so damn often that perhaps asking you to "enjoy yourselves" seems like a bad joke coming from me, but I always want you to enjoy yourself. I don't look for the next dark place to lead us into. I just try and tell the kind of stories that are important to me. And for those of you who keep coming back, that are important to you too.

Since we have this blog, I figured that I could say just a few things to any of our wonderful Audience that may be interested. I will try not to spoil anything for you.

The show you will see is not the truth.
Sure there are pieces of the truth. Billy Moon did have a tumultuous relationship with The Great Man Himself. He spoke about it many times in his memoirs and in the press.

"It seemed to me almost that my father had got where he was by climbing on my infant shoulders, that he had filched from me my good name and left me nothing but empty fame".
-Christopher Robin Milne

That fact as well as other facts are presented in this production, but they are not the truth. I made a lot of assumptions and speculations with Billy Moon's actual psychlogy. I'm sure that I ignored several facts that I could have discovered but decided not to research. I was not interested in telling the biography of Billy Moon. I was not interested in telling the story of Winnie-the-Pooh for that matter. In fact, there isn't one sentence from any Winnie-the-Pooh story past "Oh Bother", "Silly Old Bear" and mentions of certain imaginary places that we know so well. There isn't one sentence from Billy Moon's autobiography or newspaper quotes.

What I was most interested in writing about- was us.

The feelings that we have as children don't go away. They don't simply vanish with time and experience. Who we were at age 7 is who we still are at age 37. (I wanted to say 6, but I just turned 37 dammit and it annoys me.) Our innocent or broken child hangs around. He lives somewhere just behind our eyes. Sometimes his joy comes through, and whoever is lucky enough to be looking at us will see this spark of excitement and wonder. Sometimes his pain comes through and we turn away and hide him from others. Sometimes he simply comes forward and asks us "Why?" Why are you ignoring me? Why are you doing things that you know are wrong? Why aren't you having any fun? Why are you lonely? Why are you ignoring me?

Why do you wish I was destroyed?

Billy Moon's child did not live behind his eyes... He lived happily in a book and was loved by millions... This child, who did not live behind his eyes, was not only living with the kind of innocence and wonder that Billy Moon was not ever allowed to feel, but it seemed that he also took Billy Moon's only friends away with him.

Imagine peering out a window and seeing the child you were and the friends you loved living happily and content, children forever, without you... Never needing you... Never knowing that you were watching... Never even truly knowing that you exist...

Now imagine trying to turn away from that window only to face a crowd of millions wanting their turn to watch the happy child and his silly old bear... And when you push and shove and try and get them to leave you alone, they push back harder telling you that they won't leave you alone. That your child isn't your child anymore. Your bear isn't your bear anymore. Your childhood isn't yours anymore. It's theirs! Theirs! Theirs!

So even though this story is not the truth, I do believe that it was Billy Moon who was always asking his inner child "why?"

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