PLAY: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
J.K. Rowling has sold over 450 million copies of all her works on Harry Potter. Have you read any? Are you a Potterhead? No? Neither am I. But I must tell you about this amazing play (well two parts actually) at the Palace Theatre in London’s West End, the Broadway of the capital. What can I say? The play blew me away with its stunning effects, set, and the superb acting.
No wonder it won nine, yes nine, Olivier awards— the highest honour in British Theatre— and, like Hamilton the other American superb piece of theatre travelling the world, Harry Potter and The Cursed Child is playing now at the Lyric Theatre Broadway in NY and in the Fall of 2019 in the Curran Theater, San Francisco. In 2020 it will be playing at the Mehr! theatre in Hamburg, Germany, the first non-English production. This play is also running in Australia. Harry Potter is weaving his magic all over the globe.
Let me start with the theatre’s wonderful history. It is an iconic building and it was opened in January 1891 with a lavish production of Ivanhoe. A chequered history of highs and lows, it was restored to its original magnificence by Andrew Lloyd Weber in 1983. To give you an idea of the theatre’s importance, Les Miserables ran here for nineteen years. Lloyd Webber refurbished and restored the auditorium and front of the house, removing the paint that covered the Italian marble.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a two-part play written by Jack Thorne is based on an original story by Thorne, J. K. Rowling and John Tiffany. Both parts opened officially on 30 July 2016 and are still going strong. At the last count, tickets were available only in September 2019. We were very lucky to have booked well in advance to see the play in December 2018.
I am not going to give away the plot, but let me wet your appetite.
The story begins nineteen years after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and follows Harry Potter, now a Ministry of Magic employee, and his younger son Albus Severus Potter, who is about to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The story is completely new, so it was great for someone like me who had only read the first book in the Potter series to follow. Who is the Cursed Child? Will I tell you? No, sorry—- no spoiler alerts for you.
I urge you to see the play. Both my daughter and I are keen theatre-goers, a wonderful cultural legacy inculcated in us with love, by my mum. Enjoy a spectacular show that will leave you wanting more.
Leela Soma
Author of 'Twice Born', 'Bombay Baby', and 'Boxed In' (both available on Amazon and Kindle)