Dolores Gordon-Smith, acclaimed author of the Jack Haldean mysteries and profound Potter Pundit, went to see the West End production of ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.’ I begged her to write up her thoughts, she complied graciously and gave me her permission to post these notes here. To read J. K. Rowling’s long interview on the subject last week go here and to buy tickets for the 2018 opening of ‘Cursed Child’ in NYC with most of the original cast, try this.
Well, I’ve seen it! And what did I think?
The stage craft is just superb, with audible gasps from the audience on occasion. Honestly, the set designs are just stunning and the acting – for the most part – is terrific. Snape, young and old Harry, excellent Draco, Scorpius was amazing, Albus was good and Ron was outstanding – all excellent.
However, I didn’t like the way Hermione was written. She never looked at/mentioned a book and seemed to shout an awful lot. She improved in the second act but she still wasn’t Hermione. I haven’t got any problem with casting a black actress (although Hermione in the books isn’t black) but she lost her academic edge totally.
Ginny – she shouted an awful lot, too, and there was none of the devilry or charm that Ginny has in the books.
There’s a great story in there, but marred in the telling. If you’ve read the script, you know what the problems are.
Why has Harry made such a dog’s dinner of bringing up Albus when James and Lily are fine? It’s all to get Albus and Scorpius to the point where they try and change the Tri-Wizard tournament and prevent Cedric from dying, but it’s so clumsy.
You know; you’ve read it. But all the angst seems so unnecessary.
And why is Dumbledore so lachrymose? He and Harry sorted everything out and tied up the ends of their story at Kings Cross, so why is he now breaking his heart over the way he ‘brought up’ Harry?
The last scene is brilliant, with the murder of Lily and James but it took a lot of getting to.
And no; I can well believe that Beatrix Lestrange would want Voldemort’s child, but why does Voldermort want offspring? He’s immortal – he doesn’t want to share that with anyone.
Delphine could easily have wanted to be Voldemort’s daughter – you’d have the same effect without anyone who gets Voldermort thinking, “Yeah, right”.
So brilliant staging, some excellent acting but the script needed some drastic editing to make the story stand up.
It got a standing ovation though.
“Why has Harry made such a dog’s dinner of bringing up Albus when James and Lily are fine?” Dear Dolores, thank you for my new favorite phrase of “dog’s dinner.” Also, for this brilliant question. Why indeed? Thanks for sharing your thoughts post-experience!
In the words of Douglas Adams’s Marvin, “sounds awful!”
Were they still swearing by Dumbledore’s name? That drove me crazy when I was reading the script. Corny-sounding— and the last thing Dumbledore would have wanted.
I had many of the same reactions after reading the script. I would like to see the play just for the staging and special effects and the feeling of being in the HP universe. A registration for a ticket lottery just opened in the US. I entered but will not feel deprived if I can’t get tickets.