THEATRE
Story by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany
Script by Jack Thorne
At Princess Theatre, Melbourne, closing date TBC
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ****1/2
I am
re-posting my review of the ORIGINAL 2019 production as Cursed Child has, now
re-opened. Remember, this is not the current cast.
This review was published only on this blog. KH
 |
| Sean Rees-Wemyss & William McKenna |
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a sparkling,
visual feast filled with tasty, Hogwarts treats for the Potter aficionado.
The excitable and very vocal crowd cheers and
gasps at the remarkable, jaw-dropping special effects of John Tiffany’s production that combines
magical illusion, black theatre puppetry, startling appearances and
disappearances, and whirling choreographic scenes - oh, and familiar characters as well as new ones.
Tiffany
keeps the action swift and vivacious in Parts One and Two that are an
endurance test of over five hours for the audience -
but nobody seems to mind.
Based
on an original new story by JK Rowling, Jack
Thorne and John Tiffany, this new play, written by Jack Thorne, which
hurls us back into the world of Hogwarts when Harry (Gareth Reeves) and
Ginny’s (Lucy
Goleby) son Albus (Sean Rees-Wemyss) begins his less than stellar school
years
at Hogwarts Academy.
A cunning twist is that Albus's best friend is the goofy and incompetent Scorpius
Malfoy (William McKenna), son of Draco, Harry’s childhood nemesis.
The signs at the theatre say, ‘Keep the secrets’, so
this we will do. You will not hear anything of the cursed child, the changing
fate of young Albus, Scorpius, Harry and his cronies, Ron Weasley (Gyrton
Grantley) and Hermione (Paula Arundell) or the current headmistress Professor McGonagall
(Debra Lawrance).
If you loved the Potter books and movies, this is a
must-see for you. There are working magic wands, magical creatures, moving
staircases, terrifying dementors, villains and heroes, battles for life
and death, broken familial relationships and all your favourite
characters.
The heroes of this production are the invisible people
who manipulate human bodies, puppets, staircases, wands and other
paraphernalia to create this fantastic world before our eyes.
As Scorpius, McKenna delights the crowd from start to
finish, and Rees-Wemyss, as Albus, is a suitably disenchanted, rebellious teenager.
Appearances by Severus Snape (David Ross Patterson),
Professor Dumbledore (George Henare), Lily and James Potter, Dolores Umbridge (Hannah
Waterman), and a delicious bathroom cameo from Moaning Myrtle (Gillian
Cosgriff) send the crowd into paroxysms of delight.
Occasionally, some dialogue feels a bit cheesy and uncomfortable,
a few characters are a bit shouty and lacking vocal control, and the
story is extremely convoluted.
But, ultimately, there is plenty of spectacle to keep
the audience cheering and clapping as we witness the continuation of the fight
between good and evil that is at the heart of the Harry Potter series. Everyone
goes home tired and happy.
by Kate Herbert
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