The Heart Of The Play Is The Triwizard Tournament
It may come as no surprise, given Cursed Childs time-traveling nature, that the real heart of the story is set in the past . What may surprise readers, however, is just when its focal point is set: the Triwizard Tournament, which spanned from the fall of 1994 to the spring of 1995.
Why then and there? Well, for several different reasons, which peel away like the layers of an onion. Amos Diggery, Cedrics resolute father, bursts in the Potters home in order to petition the head of Magical Law Enforcement to use his newly-acquired Time-Turner to travel back and save his son, Cedric, since too many people have already died to keep the Boy Who Lived alive . But it turns out that the tournament is the key to Voldemorts return. Should any basic element have changed during Cedrics death and Voldemorts rebirth, Harry ultimately fails in his quest to destroy all the Horcruxes and the once and future Tom Riddle reigns supreme, as Albus and his best friend, Scorpius, find out to their dismay.
Harry Potter And The Cursed Child Study Guide
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a play written by playwright Jack Thorne, directed by John Tiffany, and based on an original story by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.
The story begins nineteen years after the Battle of Hogwarts in the epilogue scene at King’s Cross train station from the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In this story, we see Harry struggling to connect with his middle son Albus, while also sustaining his job as the Head of Magical Law for the Ministry of Magic. After receiving some intel about an illegal Time-Turner, Harry works with Minister for Magic Hermione Granger to track it down. The play becomes an exploration of Harry’s relationship with his middle son, and a chase through the past to save the future.
Addressing her decision to create the story as a play, Rowling has said that she is confident that when audiences see the play they will agree that it is the only proper medium for the story. Jamie Parker from The History Boys was cast as Harry Potter, Noma Dumezweni playing Hermione Granger, and Paul Thornley playing Ron Weasley. The casting of black actress Dumezweni as the original Hermione gained praise and attention. Though the character of Hermione Granger has been portrayed as white in the movies, author J.K. Rowling tweeted in response to the casting of Dumezweni “Canon: brown eyes, frizzy hair and very clever. White skin was never specified. Rowling loves black Hermione.”
Harry Potter And The Cursed Child By Jack Thorne
Posted:Erin Larson: Book Reviews & Essays
Review by Aaron Larson
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts I & IIA new play by Jack ThorneBased on an original story by J.K. Rowling
This review contains major spoilers for Harry Potter#1-7. Cursed Child spoilers are minor.
Plays, barring a few exceptions, are meant to be seen.
So why do we still read Euripides and Sophocles, Aeschylus and Aristophanes? Shakespeare, Middleton, Marlowe, Webster? Ibsen and Shaw? Tom Stoppard, Tony Kushner, Peter Shaffer?
The dull and lifeless dialogue in Cursed Child only serves to highlight the rare moments when it strikes sparks. My favorite example comes from a new character, Delphi, when she is speaking to Albus Potter early in the play: So is Harry your dad? Thats a bit wow, isnt it? One can hardly help but think of the boy in Tobias Wolffs Bullet in the Brain, smack his sweatblackened mitt and softly chant, They is, they is, they is. Theres an unexpected poetry in Delphis bit wow that left me smiling and delightedand disappointed when CursedChild never again tinkered so slyly with language. There are halfhearted attempts to return to wow as a sort of ongoing joke that the play seems to think is hip , but theyre just that: halfhearted.
Lets back up and start at the beginning. What isthis play even about? Cursed Child pivots around three major characters: Harry Potter , Albus Potter , and Scorpius
Heres my answer.
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J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter fantasy series supposedly ended in 2007 with the publication of the seventh and final book *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. *But nearly a decade after Rowlings original story endedand five years after the movie versions wound downshes expanding her Wizarding World empire in increasingly diverse ways. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme parks have opened in Orlando, Hollywood, and Osaka, Japan. Rowling has moved into screenwriting, adapting her charity textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them into an upcoming film trilogy starring Eddie Redmayne. Shes writing about the history of magic in America on her company hub Pottermore. And after years cultivating other parts of the franchise, she’s dipped back into the lives of her main characters.
Warning: The post contains plot spoilers for the entirety of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Do not proceed unless youve finished reading the play.
The cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on stage in London.
Chris Kohler: Hey, Delphi was a wartime baby, just like Teddy Lupin. What with Voldemort’s quest for immortality, you figure he’d have as many backup plans as possible. And he would have gotten away with this one, too, if not for those meddling kids!
Babbitty Rabbitty And Her Cackling Stump
This story is about a king who wants to keep all magic to himself. To do this he needs to solve two problems: he must capture and imprison all of the sorcerers in the kingdom and he has to learn magic. He creates a “Brigade of Witch Hunters” and calls for an instructor in magic. Only a “cunning charlatan” with no magical ability responds. The charlatan proves himself with a few simple tricks and begins to ask for jewellery and money to continue teaching.
However, Babbitty, the king’s washerwoman, laughs at the king one day as he attempts to do magic with an ordinary twig. This causes the king to demand the charlatan join him in a public demonstration of magic and warns that the charlatan will be beheaded if anyone laughs. The charlatan later witnesses Babbitty performing magic in her house. He threatens to expose her if she does not assist him. She agrees to hide and help the demonstration.
During the performance, the brigade captain asks the king to bring his dead hound back to life. Because Babbitty’s magic is unable to raise the dead, the crowd thinks the previous acts were tricks. The charlatan exposes Babbitty, accusing her of blocking the spells. Babbitty flees into a forest and disappears at the base of an old tree. In desperation, the charlatan states that she has turned “into a tree” and has the tree cut down.
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What Is Harry Potter And The Cursed Child About
It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a play that is presented in two parts. They’re intended to be watched in Part One, then Part Two. Ticket buyers can choose to see both parts of the play in one day as a matinee or evening, or on two consecutive evenings. Or, if you want to, you can see both Parts months apart.
Everything That Happened In The Original Series Needed To Happen
One of the biggest takeaways from Cursed Child is that everything in the original seven books happened for a reason. When seemingly tiny things are altered, it has severe implications for the future â Scorpius and Albus’s present day â ranging in effect from missed romantic opportunities to Voldemort ruling the world. Even the tiniest changes to Harry’s childhood journey could drastically change everything about his future in the Wizarding world.
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What Is The Moral Of Harry Potter And The Cursed Child
The most important moral of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is that just loving someone blindly, doesnt solve all the problems in a relationship. The best illustration of this is shown in the relationship between Harry and his son, Albus. Although Harry shows a lot of love to his son at all times, he fails to understand the complexity of what his son is going through which is why they have a lot of differences in opinion, which eventually leads to them being distant from each other.
The Alternate Universe Hermione
Hermione Granger is a strong-willed, confident, and brilliant individual with flaws just like anyone else. In the canon timeline, Hermione Granger grows up to become the Minister For Magic after having participated in defeating Voldemort alongside Harry and Ron. With or without Ron Weasley as her husband, it is hard to believe that Hermione Granger would not have achieved great things. However, one alternate universe counterpart of Hermione attempts to suggest otherwise. In a re-created timeline where Hermione does not marry Ron, she becomes a bitter and angry teacher at Hogwarts. Not to say that being a Hogwarts professor is not successful. On the contrary, if Hermione wanted to be a teacher, she had every right and ability to thrive in the profession. However, how the narrative treats her makes it a problem.
Hermione does not come across as a successful teacher who enjoys molding young minds. Instead, she appears harsh, bitter, and cruel, similar to how Severus Snape had been as a teacher. Hermione never came across as someone whose life would entirely fall apart because she did not marry Ron Weasley. It creates the wrong impression of Hermione that she would not have the same bright future because she was not married.
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Albus The Failure Of The Potter Legacy
It may not be easy to be Harry Potter, but, it turns out, its even harder to be his son. Being the offspring of the most famous member of the wizarding world produces a burden that is extremely difficult to shoulder, especially if one ends up being as slow to magic as Albus Potter turns out to be. In fact, he seems to have inherited nearly none of the attributes that his legendary father possesses, such as being able to influence the Sorting Hats decision-making process , being quick with a broom , or being able to generate multiple lasting friendships .
Rather than being his oasis, Hogwarts Castle ends up being his prison sentence. Not only do the other kids mercilessly taunt him with the name Albus, the Slytherin Squib, even his cousin Rose has abandoned him as her own popularity soars.
What To Know About Seeing Harry Potter And The Cursed Child
Here is what you need to know about seeing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the award winning play is fantastic and I hope that you get a chance to see it.
While I was in London in October, I was lucky to have the opportunity to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child! Im a huge Harry Potter fan and when I was in London, Lauren, an American ex-pat who writes Aspiring Kennedy, posted on Instagram that she had extra tickets to show! It was meant to be. Just a few nights earlier my husbands colleague was raving about the show. He didnt give anything away, he just told me it was wonderful. I loved walking into the show not knowing what to expect, everything was a pleasant surprise. So without giving away any details, here is what you need to know about seeing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
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Emotionally Gripping Show That Opened Sunday Uses Dazzling Stagecraft And Relatable Characters To Brilliant Effect
Karen Frickertimer
It will dazzle your senses, expand your heart, and keep you buzzing for hours afterwards.
Simply amazing things happen in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the new stage play at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre: bodies fly through the air time expands and contracts and other-than-human creatures appear, some marvellous and some horrific.
At the same time, it tells a gripping story about growing up, intergenerational family conflict and the power of love and acceptance. And it extends the Potter universe in a decidedly 21st-century fashion that will appeal to adult and youth audiences alike.
The fact that it manages to do all those things in three-and-a-half hours of jam-packed entertainment is genuinely astounding.
Its a wonderful touch to have Cursed Child open in Toronto on Fathers Day, for the story centres on father-child relationships: between 37-year-old Harry Potter and his troubled son Albus between Harrys long-time foe Draco Malfoy and his awkward son Scorpius and between other characters central to the Potterverse.
The show opens with Albuss departure from Londons Kings Cross Station for Hogwarts School, seen off by his parents Harry and Ginny . Rose Granger-Weasley is there too with her parents Ron and Hermione , setting up the expectation that Albus and Rose will be great pals at Hogwarts just as their parents were.
What Are The Reviews Of Harry Potter And The Cursed Child
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opened in London to a plethora of five star reviews. In a review for LondonTheatre.co.uk, “We are immediately plunged into another of J.K Rowling’s ingeniously plotted rabbit holes of collisions between the natural and supernatural worlds, Muggles and mystery, Wizards and wonderment, and good and evil… It’s a show rich in theatrical magic as well as evoking magical powers, but also deeply human, too, with fantastic performances from a brilliant ensemble cast.”
In a review for The Telegraph, Dominic Cavendish said: “”This is a production that thrills at the aura of possibility lurking in the Victorian splendour of the theatre itself, a bygone age of smoke and mirrors.” Similarly for The Guardian, Michael Cavendish said: “I got as much pleasure from the staging as from the convoluted story. Tiffany and his designer, Christine Jones, have created magic out of the simplest ingredients… while it helps to be a paid-up Potterhead, Tiffany and his team stage the piece with such dazzling assurance that I finally began to see the point of being wild about Harry.”
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
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Harry And Draco’s Blossoming Friendship
When Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy disappear from the Hogwarts Express on the way to their fourth year, Harry, Ginny, and Draco are beside themselves with worry and recriminations against the other. Its more than just old tensions bubbling up to the surface again its also the fact that Draco has a single-minded obsession with Harry officially refuting the persistent rumors of Scorpiuss true parentage, and Harrys growing concerns over what he perceives as some sort of Death Eater resurgence .
The resulting tensions reach their crescendo, but then, when both individuals are forced to admit the mistakes theyve made as parents and in trying to protect their sons from the pressures and cajoling of the outside world, they find themselves reaching some sort of understanding that has always eluded them. When Malfoy makes the very tender confession that he was always jealous of the friendship Harry had with both Ron and Hermione Crabbe and Goyle were always lackeys, not comrades it seals the new deal. Harry and Draco, at long last, become honest, genuine friends, with their children leading the way in this new familial relationship.
The New Magical Status Quo
Author J.K. Rowling has had ample time to fill everyone in on what the cast of the Harry Potter books has been up to in the intervening 18 years , thanks to the likes of interviews with the press and short stories that have periodically popped up over at her site, Pottermore. And then of course there’s also the epilogue in the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which is set in the year 2017, when Harrys second son, Albus Potter, finally gets his chance to head off to Hogwarts.
Whats interesting about Cursed Child is how thoroughly it changes everything we thought we knew: Hermione Granger is minister of magic, Harry is the head of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry, Ron Weasley is the proprietor of Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, Ginny Potter is the sports editor of the Daily Prophet, and Minerva McGonagall is still the headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. What hasnt changed, of course, are the characters marriages and children: Harry and Ginny have James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna, while Rose and Hugo Granger-Weasley are the offspring of Ron and Hermione .
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Harry’s Treatment Of Albus
Were people expecting Harry to be a perfect father? No, probably not. He was not given a solid look at a decent marital foundation or healthy relationships with their kids until he spent the summer with the Weasley family. It would be unfair to claim that anyone could be a perfect parent who never makes mistakes. However, in Harry’s case, it is as if Harry’s bad parenting is done so over-the-top for plot reasons. Harry and Albus do not have the closest relationship, which is not necessarily the worst part of their dynamic. What makes it worse is how bad they are at communicating with each other. At one point, during a fight, Harry claims to wish that Albus was not his son.
Although there are suggestions that Harry gets along better with James and Lily, the play never actually shows those dynamics. Instead, by not allowing the audience the opportunity to witness Harry interact with his two other kids or offering their perspective of their relationship with Harry, it is up to the implication that Harry is a better father to them rather than showing it. But unfortunately, that does not make things better or worse regarding understanding the complexities between Harry and Albus.