J.M. Barrie is best known for creating Peter Pan, but had a prolific writing career throughout his life. Dear Brutus was written in 1917; Barrie took the title from a line in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves, though critics of the time considered that the play reminded them more of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The premise of the play rests on what would happen if we were given a second chance to live our lives, and what we might learn from the experience. The characters in the play are brought together in an enchanted forest by the mysterious Lob (another name for Puck) and given an alternative life, before returning to their original existence. Some have learnt from the experience, others have not.