Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne
Let me tell you, I really enjoyed this. It’s the “Special Rehearsal Edition Script” from the play. I enjoy reading scripts almost more than novels, and this was no exception.
This was Back to the Future meets Harry Potter.
I’m a fan, like all sane people, of the original Harry Potter series, and this extension by another writer did not disappoint. In fact, Draco Malfoy’s son, Scorpious, is now one of my favorite Harry Potter characters.
You know why? Because he’s funny. He gets funny lines. In truth, the humor in this script is better than anything in the original novels.
Don’t get me wrong, I think J.K. Rowling is a heck of a writer. But she doesn’t bring the funny all that often. The exception was Ginny, who had the strongest comedy lines in the later books. Ironically, she doesn’t get any in this play, which disappoints me. In fact, Ginny is underused in this piece. In the author’s defense, he was packing a lot of our favorite characters into this thing.
The one thing that kept bugging me was I have NO IDEA how this could be produced on a stage. From the stage directions of the magic, it almost seems like it was written as a joke, an unproducable play.
Seriously: it would make the Les Miserables bridge jump and Peter Pan flying seem like a walk in the park.
Stacey’s complaint was that Harry Potter and his son are kind of thick headed jerks, but… that’s the plot, so we’ll let it slide. Someone’s got to learn lessons, or why have a book?
Anyway, good read.
Books Read: 41
Week Number: 38
Books/Weeks: 1.08