Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Jan. 13th, 2017 09:46 pmThe reason I spent the last fourteen months working my way through the Harry Potter books. Because I was going with a group of fandom friends (technically Sherlock fandom, although we do a lot of other things too) to see the latest adventure of Harry Potter.
[This is basically spoiler free. I shall mention a few of the actors playing some of the main parts, but nothing more.]
Was it all worth it? Definitely. There are two parts to this play, and we saw Part 1 in the afternoon and Part 2 in the evening, going out to dinner in between the two parts. We were all very glad we didn't have long to wait between the conclusion of Part 1 and the start of Part 2, not even enough time to write fanfic ;) At the table one of our group of six asked whether it was worth getting a bottle of wine to share; since five of us said yes, we went for two bottles.
The plot (which I won't reveal) was satisfying, and, for those who have read my book reviews, didn't annoy me in the way the books did. I was very glad I had read the books, as there were a lot of references. As might be expected in a show involving magic there were plenty of illusions and special effects, which worked really well. There were certainly some 'wow' moments and nothing jarred or grated. I'm not a fan of special effects for the sake of it, but these fitted beautifully into the plot, and indeed at times much simpler effects were used extremely well.
There were a few characters I would have liked to seen who weren't there, and I wasn't impressed with the way a few characters were portrayed, but overall I really enjoyed it. Having Jamie Parker as Harry Potter was definitely a plus. And I particularly liked the Malfoys, Draco (Alex Price) and Scorpius (Anthony Boyle).
If you enjoyed Harry Potter, then I'd recommend seeing it - tickets for February to April 2018 go on sale in ten day's time. If you know nothing of Harry Potter, it's still an excellent bit of theatre.
[This is basically spoiler free. I shall mention a few of the actors playing some of the main parts, but nothing more.]
Was it all worth it? Definitely. There are two parts to this play, and we saw Part 1 in the afternoon and Part 2 in the evening, going out to dinner in between the two parts. We were all very glad we didn't have long to wait between the conclusion of Part 1 and the start of Part 2, not even enough time to write fanfic ;) At the table one of our group of six asked whether it was worth getting a bottle of wine to share; since five of us said yes, we went for two bottles.
The plot (which I won't reveal) was satisfying, and, for those who have read my book reviews, didn't annoy me in the way the books did. I was very glad I had read the books, as there were a lot of references. As might be expected in a show involving magic there were plenty of illusions and special effects, which worked really well. There were certainly some 'wow' moments and nothing jarred or grated. I'm not a fan of special effects for the sake of it, but these fitted beautifully into the plot, and indeed at times much simpler effects were used extremely well.
There were a few characters I would have liked to seen who weren't there, and I wasn't impressed with the way a few characters were portrayed, but overall I really enjoyed it. Having Jamie Parker as Harry Potter was definitely a plus. And I particularly liked the Malfoys, Draco (Alex Price) and Scorpius (Anthony Boyle).
If you enjoyed Harry Potter, then I'd recommend seeing it - tickets for February to April 2018 go on sale in ten day's time. If you know nothing of Harry Potter, it's still an excellent bit of theatre.