Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
of secrecy has sprung up around its plot, enforced by Rowling (who has 7.5 million devoted Twitter followers) via the hashtag #KeepTheSecrets. All of which is a circuitous way of saying that I
may have given the outwardly unflappable Parker – a versatile, heavyweight actor hugely respected in the theatre world – a minor mental breakdown as he struggles to think what he can actually tell me about it. Things are fractionally easier for the other
actor I’m sitting with in the Palace Theatre’s distinctly Hogwartsian bar. Sam Clemmett, looking younger than his 22 years, is the relative newcomer playing Harry’s son, Albus Severus. He seems a touch overawed by the whole situation and can’t tell me anything either, but at least he’s not got the weight of playing the most famous character in twenty-first-century literature on his shoulders. So, who is Albus Severus Potter? ‘Well…’ There is a pause, and a scan for a
Nest egg The most successful fictional franchise in history arrives in the West End
potential Rowling sniper. ‘As it says in the last four pages [the epilogue of “The Deathly Hallows”] and according to what’s been said about the play so far, he is a quiet, introverted, nervous young lad going to Hogwarts. And as it says in the little biography, he has to deal with the legacy of his father’s past and that burden.’ If you didn’t read the books, here’s a very brief
‘I KNEW YOU were going to ask me something like this,’ mutters Jamie Parker. ‘I’m going to have to have an answer, and I haven’t got one yet.’ The question I’ve just asked the 37-year-old
‘He’s just an ordinary guy who’s tried to do the best he can.’
actor is pretty simple. Who is Harry Potter? The reason he’s having difficulty is that I don’t mean Harry Potter the boy-wizard protagonist of the most popular book series and second most popular film series in history. I mean the Harry Potter he’s playing: the middle-aged protagonist of the new, two-part stage play ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’. Set 19 years after the events of JK Rowling’s final book ‘The Deathly Hallows’ – or immediately after its brief epilogue, if you’re going to be nerdy – the eighth official Potter adventure was written by top playwright Jack Thorne in consultation with Rowling, and is being performed in the West End. To say it’s hotly anticipated would be to use a
bland turn of phrase to describe the most iconic fictional story of our time. And to note that ‘The Cursed Child’ instantly sold out its current booking period – into May next year – doesn’t begin to cover how popular it is. Put it this way: ‘The Deathly Hallows’ sold 2.65 million copies in the UK, on its first day; even if only those people attempted to see ‘The Cursed Child’ at the 1,200- seat Palace Theatre, the show would be sold out for ten years. It’s bloody popular is what I’m saying. And the
simple process of supply and demand dictates that some people are going to have to wait a loooongtime to see it. Which means a full-on cult
Time Out London July 5 – 11 2016 30
summary of that past. Rowling’s seven tales of magic and friendship each correspond with one of Harry’s adventure-filled academic years at Hogwarts, Britain’s premier boarding school for wizards. They end with the 18-year-old Harry saving the world by defeating Lord Voldemort, the evil magician who killed his parents. A lot of other stuff happens too. The books are not short; in fact, they got longer and more complex as the series progressed, effectively growing up with their audience – which is why the average Potterhead is not a child but a 25 to 35-year-old hungry for more. All they’ve had so far is the aforementioned epilogue in which Harry, his BFFs Hermione and Ron, and his erstwhile nemesis Draco meet at King’s Cross station as they prepare to pack their kids off to Hogwarts for the first time. That ‘The Cursed Child’ picks up the story from here is as much as Rowling and Sonia Friedman, the West End super-producer who persuaded Rowling to do a stage adventure, are prepared to let us know. So can I find out any more? After an epic pause
for thought, Parker finally has an answer to the question of who the middle-aged Harry is. ‘Okay,’ he says, slowly, ‘trying to find an answer
to your earlier question, Harry is formerly a very, very famous teenage boy who’s been known alternatively as The Chosen One and The Boy Who Lived, this overtly messianic figure. But he’s never claimed or pretended to be a hero, he never coveted the extraordinary circumstances he was born into, he’s just an ordinary guy who’s tried to do the best he can. ‘Having had this extraordinary rite of passage
THEATRE: ALAMY STOCK PHOTO, JAMIE PARKER: ANDY PARSONS
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