HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD • LONDON
★★★★★☆
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REVIEW HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD PART 1 + 2: VISUALLY OPULENT AND TECHNICALLY ASTONISHING
After several years of anticipation, hampered by sold-out houses and crazy ticket prices, I finally managed to see the world-famous production of the Harry Potter theatre version Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Expectations were high and were almost fulfilled.
The visually lavish, scenically astonishing performance has an exclusive degree of intricate storyline that calls on everything you know about the Potter saga’s cast of characters, the actors’ characteristics, mutual dynamics and defining backstories.
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It is unconditionally fun to see the cards reshuffled in a new way that a large part of the fan base that grew up with Harry & Co. can relate to.
The drama begins 19 years after the events of the last instalment of the film series (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1+2) and takes its cue from the epilogue, which offers a glimpse into the future.
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Harry is now married to Ginny Weasley, sister of red-haired Ron, who, despite his knitted waistcoat and beer belly, has managed to score Mrs. Perfect Hermione Granger, who in the theatre version has become a sharp, African-American darling à la Michelle Obama, to ensure a more diverse gender distribution among all the white guys who populate Hogwarts and the surrounding area.
You get a shock right from the start when Harry Potter’s son Albus befriends Scorpius, the son of my favourite character Draco Malfoy, the Aryan-inspired, white-haired villain, on the train to Hogwarts.
The inappropriate friendship between the two boys, who each feel like outcasts in their own way, is the driving force behind the plot, which is super complicated and draws on a sea of references to the widely ramified universe, which you absolutely must know about beforehand. The Sorting Hat sends Albus to Slytherin – hello, what’s going on!
The boys travel back in time in a failed attempt to save Cedric Diggory, but their efforts alter the timeline and lead to a dark new reality. Albus and Scorpius, who at times resemble the beginning of a bromance, have overlooked the fact that if you interfere with the past, you also change the present.
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Suddenly, it is Lord Voldemort (oops, I didn’t say that name) who won the battle for power, darkness reigns – and Harry Potter is long dead.
Together with their parents, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Draco, the boys must therefore embark on a new, perilous Time Turner Mission to restore the original timeline, set history straight and perhaps even bridge old disputes.
It’s all done with loads of awesome special effects, fire-breathing wands, fights floating freely in the air, clever magic tricks and, last but not least, some totally amazing white Dementors, which appear several times flying around the stage like threatening comets of white smoke. Wow!
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I saw Parts 1 + 2 on the same day at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and it was a cool, compact experience, despite the fact that the story develops so intricately that it periodically becomes a little bit external, and where you as an audience member just sit and wait for the next spectacular special effect.
If you are a seasoned Potter fan, you will definitely love every second of the performance, its imaginative projection of the characters and the fundamentally wonderful story of true friendship, spectacular magic and the battle between good and evil.
Five stars from Got to see this for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts 1 + 2, which, in addition to being a cool capitalisation on the Potter universe, is live entertainment at its absolute best.
