London: It begins with the scene that ended the final book.
Right now, we know little more about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the breathlessly awaited new play that — to the joy of fans worldwide — promises an eighth installment of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter saga. Set 19 years after Harry has defeated his nemesis, Voldemort, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the play gives us a thirty-something Harry and centres on his son, Albus Potter, entering his first year at Hogwarts just as Harry did at the start of the series.
The play, which has a story line by Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, begins previews at the Palace Theatre in London on Tuesday, and everything about the production has been shrouded in tantalizing secrecy. A few details — wand design, the stitching on a cloak, cast photos — were revealed to excited fans on Pottermore.com, Rowling’s website. Even these tidbits received a level of online speculation and enthusiasm worthy of a major political event.
“None of us, all quite experienced in the theatre world, have ever experienced anything of this magnitude and intensity before,” said Colin Callender, who with Sonia Friedman has produced the show, which is composed of two parts that can be viewed together or on separate days. Callender was speaking during a roundtable conversation on Thursday. With him were Friedman; Thorne, who wrote the play; Tiffany, its director; Jamie Parker, who plays Harry; and Noma Dumezweni, who plays Hermione. Here are edited excerpts from their conversation about everything but the plot.
Why a play? Was it J.K. Rowling’s idea?
Friedman: It was absolutely Colin’s and my idea. We knew that many other producers had approached her, and she had rejected their pitches. But that’s because they were all ideas about musicals or arena spectacles. We went to her with the simple idea of a straight play. We were clear we didn’t want to adapt a novel, and we suggested exploring how Harry, an orphan, would cope as an adult and a parent.
Callender: We went up to Edinburgh four years ago and sat in a boardroom and talked about fathers and parenting for a while. We said we felt she had created a fully dimensional world, and there were things about the characters she hadn’t revealed. We didn’t hear anything for a bit, then got the call to say, “Let’s go to the next stage.” She was clear from the beginning that she was not a playwright and wouldn’t write it, and that she would only do it if we found a playwright she approved.
Did you know Jack Thorne’s writing already?
Friedman: We actually thought first about who might direct. I’ve been wanting to work with John for 20 years, and he has turned down all my suggestions. I loved his work in Black Watch and Let the Right One In, the kinds of effects he achieved from nothing. So we approached him, and he said we have to do it with Jack.
Jack and John, you knew each other from Cambridge University?
Thorne: John came to give a reading when I was a student there, and I approached him afterward and he was terribly nice, and kind enough to read my terrible plays. Then he ran off to run the National Theatre of Scotland.
Parker: You have abandonment issues, obviously.
You both share story credit with J.K. Rowling. How did it work having three writers in the mix?
Tiffany: Jo Rowling was incredibly generous. I met her first, and I already had a soft spot for her because she used to write in the cafe of the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh when I was the director. It was only after the first book came out that I realized it had been her, nursing one cappuccino for four hours. When we met to talk about the play, she asked, “What do you think the Harry Potter stories are about?” I said, “Learning to deal with death and grief.” There was something in her eye — I thought, we didn’t say it’s about transformation or magic or flying on brooms, and we’re on the right track.
Thorne: We all met in Edinburgh and, as the day developed, we knew we would take the epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as a starting point.
Tiffany: All the seeds are there; we start with that scene in the train station. Am I allowed to say that? Anyway, it was clear that she was going to let us take those characters and have our own ideas.
Callender: Of course, Jack came to the table with an encyclopedic knowledge of Harry, so that helped.
Thorne: All right, I’m a nerd. With abandonment issues.
Did you really sketch out the whole arc of the story in that first meeting?
Thorne: Yes, but then it took about six months to really map the whole thing out. Every time it was like taking a big step forward, one or two small ones back. Jo would say, “This feels right, this doesn’t.”
Tiffany: There are parts of the story, which when we first conceived them, I didn’t think she would let us do, but she never hesitated. It is one thing to let us continue the story, another to let us unravel the canon.
Friedman: That’s enough!
Was the idea of a two-part play there from the beginning?
Tiffany: No, not at all. But we knew we had to deal with going beyond where the books left off, but also go back and look at the stories within them. We wanted to develop the characters that are already known and keep that consistency, but also introduce new ones. It was clearly hard to put an epic tale into two-and-a-half hours. We had a meeting and said, “Why not two parts?” And we knew right away how we wanted to end the first part. It’s a cliffhanger.
Dumezweni: It does that wonderful thing that books do when they work; it makes you desperate for more story.
How is it different telling that story as a play rather than a novel?
Thorne: We can tell the story of the younger and older generation at the same time, which the books didn’t do. The exciting thing has been working out how those worlds fit together. It’s a coming-of-age story as much for the adults as for the children. John and I are more or less the same age as Harry in the play, and I just had my first child, so there has been a lot of discussion about growing up, being a parent.
Tiffany: How do you mother or father when you still need parenting yourself?
Dumezweni: Also, I think the difference with a play is that you’re not experiencing the story on your own the way you do with a book. Being in the theatre is a communal experience, and this play, with two parts, is a commitment. I’m fascinated to see what my daughter will think after a whole day in the theatre. As an actor, it’s something I’ve never experienced before.
What about dealing with the issue of magic in the theatre, where you can’t create the kind of effects that happen in film?
Tiffany: Film has got green screen. We’ve got the imagination of the audience.
How do you feel, Jamie and Noma, playing characters that a huge fan-base feel so possessive about? Is it intimidating?
Dumezweni: I think Jamie found it very intimidating. [Everyone laughs.]
Parker: It’s not so different from playing any role that is within a canon. You have the responsibility of being sensitive to the collective investment in the story. But you just have to try to serve the play the best way you can and not worry about that.
Dumezweni: The weight of expectation is huge. But for me that pressure has been outweighed by getting text messages from mums I know saying how huge it is for their mixed-race daughters that I am playing Hermione. Ultimately it’s a theatre piece, I’m a theatre actor and doing a job as best I can.
Has it been difficult to work under conditions of intense secrecy? And what about when previews start and people are talking about the play online?
Callender: I’m hopeful after seeing how people were about Star Wars. They mostly protected the fans.
Tiffany: It will be a relief when the text is published, when the play officially opens on July 30, so that it’s not our secret to keep. But if you don’t read it, and you choose not to read reviews, we’ve made it possible to come without prior knowledge.
Parker: And you don’t get that much nowadays. So often things are ruined because you know so much.
Dumezweni: I’ve quite loved the secrecy. Although, of course, my home life is [expletive]. My daughter tries to guess what is in the play. She says, “Just smile at me if I’m right.”
Tiffany: My mum is the only problem. Everyone else is fine. She asks really specific questions; then I discovered people are quizzing her in her local supermarket.
Parker: When people ask, I just pull out a wand, and go, “I’m a wizard!”
