Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts 1 & 2

12 July 2023

Spoilers ahead

The absolute mammoth of play that is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
With each of the 2 parts running for about 2h 45m, it was a marathon to watch.

Despite the crazy runtime, I really enjoyed it!

The tech and design used in it was AMAZING. For the parts when the time turner is used, projection mapping lights the set (in a subtle, unnoticeable kind of way). As they reach the new time, it 'jolts', shifting the light, giving the impression of a wave coming towards you. It was incredibly clever.

As well as this, the magic tricks used were nifty and not always debunk-able!

One of the highlights was the dementor flying around above the heads of the audience.

However, it wasn't all amazing:
There was some poor acting. With the exception of the two leads, most actors were wooden and lacking in conviction. While I can see it for such a long play, it did let it down a bit.
As well as this, the play was over-long (shock-horror!). I could easily have shaved about 2 hours off it - there was too much standing around, and the plot felt very wooly at times. This combined with a slightly uncomfortable theatre meant you really felt that 6 hour runtime.

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