I recently reviewed the script for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, but now I can say that I have been one of those happy people who have seen the play and here are my spoiler free thoughts.
What?
A day of adventures in magic world, also known as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Where?
First row at The Palace Theater, London, UK
When?
Sunday, 4th of September
If I had to sum up the play in one word it would be “magical”. I honestly thought that the people who worked on the play had only one thought in their minds: “Believe in magic, muggle!” And, indeed, believe I did.
Although I didn’t really like the book, I predicted that in my opinion play will be a lot better, because the actors will add their share to the characters, the voice and props will do their job. And they did, they did do an amazing job, turning the dry jokes and sentences into a lot of emotions. Showing an amazing speed and creativity, turning the story in reality.
I have to admit that the production of this play was at an amazing level and well, I honestly now understand why the tickets cost as much as they do. The music, special effects, lights, choreography, speed and magic were amazing! I mean I was sitting in the front row and actually didn’t have a clue how they did all those things. Perhaps for someone who has studied magic, it wouldn’t seem as impressive, but it was for me. And I really want to stress the amazing speed and the sneaky and clever ways that were used to transport the actors from one place to another, sure, later logic kicked in, but that didn’t change the admirable performance in my eyes.
Honestly I was impressed with almost everything and everyone in this play, but I have to especially say that Scorpius was incredible. He was slightly different than in the book and I absolutely loved him (although in the book he was a bit ‘meh’ for me), Anthony Boyle (Scorpius) really did an amazing job at showing his character’s issues and traumas, he will always be burned in my mind as Scorpius now and I feel like he’s at least a bit of a genius. (He actually got me in tears from laughing in the second part.)
And speaking of ‘burned in my mind’, there has been a lot of controversy about Noma Dumezweni as Hermione and I have to admit that I had to remind myself several times that she is Hermione during the play, when she was speaking or doing something. But nevertheless, her acting was great and I definitely can see her as Hermione now. I liked her and her acting a lot and admire her for overcoming all the obstacles and even hate that has been thrown at her.
There, I guess, are two more things I have to mention, first: Ron! I didn’t really think or like him in the book and he didn’t seem like the old Ron I knew. Sure, ageing changes people, but it just seemed weird, a bit cheap and not very entertaining, but Paul Thornley did a great job, turning those jokes into actual laughter – the whole audience was laughing and having a great time, no dryness or stupidity at all. It was lovely to see such warmth and laugh from the audience, it was often silly and the actor played it brilliantly.
I was not sure, if Draco was what I expected, because I had no real expectations. I have never imagined Draco grown up and he wasn’t really the same as a teenager, but James Howard made the adult Draco very interesting. He was quite excellent at his role and his voice… ohohohoho… was just amazing.
My favourite parts were first half of the first part and first half of the second part. They made me laugh, they made me cry, they made me be there – in the Harry Potter world again and see both beautiful and dreadful things. And well… it was amazing.
There are many other things I could mention about the play, not all of them are good! But I won’t, hoping that some day you will all get a chance to see it— live or on screens! I hope it will be worth it for you. It was for me and it will always be in my memory as an excellent experience. It is really hard not to explain how many genius solutions were shown, how amazing some details were and several magic tricks, but I guess, that is something I will only be able to talk about with those, who have seen it or who really, really want to know it… but even then, probably, I would not be able to do it justice. But for now, I need to #KeepTheSecrets.
I also got a bunch of merchandise, couldn’t resist a tote bag and a book with photographs and texts about the play and a couple of cards for my friends.
So these are my thoughts on the play. If you have any specific questions, please note that you can ask them, but I would really prefer not to spoil anything major, if you have a spoiler to talk about, please start your comment with ‘Spoiler Alert’, so everyone knows it and has the choice to not read the comment. And I will do the same, if I answer any spoiler-ish questions. Hope you enjoyed the post and as the last thing I have to mention that my boyfriend Tom said that it was the best play he has ever seen and the work that was put into it is just incredible. So… Blimey, there’s two of them!
September 6, 2016 at 16:49
Ah I’m so jealous that you got to see it, I’m glad to hear that you loved it !!!
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September 6, 2016 at 17:16
Hope there’s a chance for you to see it too! 🙂
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September 6, 2016 at 17:52
Eventually I will, and I know il love it ❤
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September 6, 2016 at 17:09
Great review! I wasn’t impressed with the script, but I’d still love to watch it in London to see the special effects 🙂
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September 6, 2016 at 17:16
Well, as you can see from my review, I didn’t like the script and not because it was a play, but because the story had plenty of plot holes, that didn’t change the fact though that the actual play was high quality with amazing effects and… how to put this… some of the things that were in the script in one way, where turned to be different by the things that happened on the stage.
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September 6, 2016 at 18:17
I can’t wait till I go there too but it’s not until my birthday next year haha 🙈
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September 6, 2016 at 22:08
So glad you were able to see it!
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September 6, 2016 at 23:57
I think it is incredible that you got to see this play! I haven’t read it yet, but with a play, the success is often in the execution with the caveat that a really bad play just can’t be saved. Thanks for sharing your experience without spoiling it for anyone.
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September 7, 2016 at 11:07
Great job leaving out spoilers! :–) It’s so less fun in a way to write without them, because so many feelings one has relate to the spoilery aspects, so I always respect when someone can write a compelling review in spite of that!
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September 7, 2016 at 18:38
I saw the guys that plays Harry Potter on another play a couple of years ago and met him afterwards. He was really funny and sweet. I just got really happy when he got this role because no matter what people think of the script it really is a huge honor. BTW Im so jealous of your merchendise!
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September 12, 2016 at 10:37
He has said amazing words about his role and about the world, like in most plays actors have to get the audience feel the world, yet here, everyone’s already in the world.
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September 7, 2016 at 23:48
Well, this definitely gives me hope for the play (whenever I’m actually able to see it). I wasn’t impressed by the script but I had a feeling that it would probably be better seeing it acted by actors than just reading it.
I know you talked about how the actors helped the otherwise flat script lines come to life but do you think it was mainly just not seeing the actors that made the script fall flat or do you think there was some edits of certain parts of the play that weren’t made yet to the script version we all have?
Anyway, I’m really glad you enjoyed the play! It gives me some hope about the Cursed Child!
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September 12, 2016 at 10:35
I think that a lot of work was done with intonations and way HOW they say those dry lines from the book. Plus music and the atmosphere they managed to create helped as well!
Mostly it was perfectly as from the script as much as I could remember, so they didn’t really change that.
I don’t know, maybe the fact that I went in with very low expectations (because of the book) was also at fault that I liked it so much. I also haven’t been to many plays that are so high end as this one, so can’t really compare.
My boyfriend said that one of the actors (I think Ron) had said that they have a really hard task, because for many Harry Potter was the first book they read and now the play is the first play they’ve seen. And as with the book J.K. got many in reading world, they have to perform magical enough to make people stay in theater world.
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September 9, 2016 at 17:40
I’ve just finished reading the book, and I’m going to see the play next July – UNBELIEVABLY EXCITED!!
I had really low expectations for the book tbh, because everyone said it was a bit meh, so I actually quite enjoyed it haha! 🙂
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September 12, 2016 at 10:27
I hope you will love it! Please, if you remember, let me know how and what you liked and disliked about it. :)) I am really excited for you to see it!
(And by the way, merchandise shop is not open after the play, so, if you buy something, so it when the queue is the shortest (we almost missed out on the buying)).
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September 12, 2016 at 20:47
Ahh I’m so excited too! I’ll try to remember to let you know what I think! 🙂 Thanks for the tip!
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September 11, 2016 at 03:52
Ah, so lucky to have been able to watch the play!
Yes, the script-book wasn’t an excellent read, but as you said, the play must have been much better.
A well-written review!
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September 12, 2016 at 10:20
I actually think that all those disappointments that the people have now for the book (and I also had) were not worth it – they shouldn’t have released it. Although the plot holes are present, the play gave so much more and a book – a script could never do it.
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September 11, 2016 at 19:08
I’m so jealous you got to see this one! I loved the book, of course, but being able to see the characters reenact these wonderful scenes must be amazing! xx
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September 12, 2016 at 10:12
I sometimes still don’t believe it actually happened. 😀 I am so lucky! My boyfriend is already saying that he would like to see it again (but yeah, it’s super hard to get the tickets and they are really expensive) – I’m thinking of re-reading the book, because I didn’t much like it, but now that I have faces, intonations and memories to add, I probably will like it a lot better. It was magic, really, half of the things I couldn’t believe!
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September 12, 2016 at 22:16
I hope you and your boyfriend do get a chance to see it again, though, as it truly sounds like a life-changing experience! I actually loved the book (mostly because of scorpius!!), but I feel like I’d like anything that had to do with Harry Potter. 🙂
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October 3, 2016 at 12:03
I was very pleased to hear that the magic of the theatre is alive and well. What upset me is that I expected a deeper and more intelligent use of the language from bookowly than “Ah well … It was amazing.” We can all think that but if you are going to publish your thoughts, put a little more thought into it, please.
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January 14, 2017 at 21:27
ooooh no…..better still lemme wait and watch it
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November 6, 2017 at 17:24
I was seriously disappointed with the book. However, upon reading your review, I am considering the play.
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