Hey guys, Jana here,
Oh, Potter-heads do we have something awesome being sent down from Queen Rowling, personally! It’s not a new book like we all dream of, as our house-elves tuck us in each night. It’s not a new movie, which we can all agree, even Grawp, that they don’t hold a candle to the novels anyway, so that’s ok. What we will have is a play titled ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child‘ and it will open in London’s West End next year.
Rowling, through her website, stated the play would have it’s world premiere at London’s Palace Theatre during the summer of 2016 but tickets will be available as soon as this fall. The author then took to Twitter to tell us a bit more about what can be expected from this new venture and who she’s working with. The story will be all new and a creative collaboration between writer Jack Thorne, director John Tiffany and Rowling. “I’ve had countless offers to extend Harry’s story over the years, but Jack, John and Sonia Friedman are a dream team!” one Tweet read. “It has been a huge pleasure to share with them (and soon, with you!) this untold part of Harry’s story”. She then revealed that the story is not a prequel as what we had been told as she revealed those as her initial intentions for a play to run in December of 2013.
Rowling approached the subject of her choice of medium to tell her story. Why was it not a new novel? She says she’s confident that when audiences see the play they will agree that it was the only proper way to tell the story. Now she wants to answer a few questions and explore some of the stories in the magical world that are still a mystery to us, “What was it like to be the boy in the cupboard under the stairs? She wants to explore Harry’s early years as an orphan and outcast, there will be plenty of our favorite characters from the novels and the resulting play will delve into the heart and mind of the now legendary Potter. There’s more though, the play will also explore the lives of Harry’s doomed parents, Lily Evans Potter and James Potter, we may see the sibling relationship of Lily and Petunia and the lightly touched on friendship between Lily and Severus Snape during their schooldays.
The play will be produced by Sonia Friedman Prods., Colin Callender’s Playground Entertainment and Harry Potter Theatrical Prods. Movement will be directed by Steven Hoggett, set designed by Christine Jones and costuming by Katrina Lindsay, lighting by Neil Austin, music by Imogen Heap with sound by Gareth Fry and special effects from Jeremy Chernick.
The Palace Theatre has been home to some of stages best plays like ‘Jesus Christ Superstar‘ through the 1970’s and ‘Les Miserables‘ which ran for a total of 19 years and currently is the host to ‘The Commitments‘ which will be shuttered in November.
Some of us have already had a dose of Potter on the stage and it’s taken different forms each time, for those of you still virginal to the medium as it pertains to Potter, I present two different forms. Enjoy.