Back to Hogwarts: 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'
July 31, 2016
It sounds all very familiar: Platform 9 ¾, little wizards and witches getting on to the Hogwarts Express, the Sorting Hat, and a little boy who seems to attract trouble.
"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" came out tonight. The rehearsal script of the two-part West End stage play by Jack Thorne, J.K. Rowling and John Tiffany is not a written version of the play. It has become the eighth story set in the Harry Potter universe. Fans all over the world were waiting for the clock to strike midnight on July 31, 2016 to get the first copy of the play. So did we. It's part of the Harry Potter cult - you can't wait a night to read Joanne K. Rowling's new piece. You have to read it right away.
Unlike the seven Harry Potter novels, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two" is the original script of Rowling's new play. It is written in script form and only contains dialogues between the characters, in addition to a bit of background information. What seems confusing at first becomes an interesting game for your mind, imagining the characters talking rather than having sophisticated plot scenes.
19 years later
The play starts where the original seven books ended. Nineteen years after the battle of Hogwarts, famous Harry Potter and his best friend's sister Ginny Weasley are married. They have three children - all of whom attend the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry just as their parents did.
Harry's best friends Hermione Granger and husband Ron Weasley are still by his side, Hermione being the minister of magic. The play opens with a conversation between the main characters. Harry's youngest son is in his first year at Hogwarts; he is excited and terrified, worrying he might be sorted into the "evil" house Slytherin. Yet his father ensures him he wouldn't mind and that he'd be able to influence the Sorting Hat's decision.
For non-Harry-Potter-people this might sound confusing. Houses and a sorting hat? The sorting hat is a magical hat that reads the children's minds to some extent. It decides where to place the first graders for their coming school career at Hogwarts. Houses work like extended families: Students have classes together, share dorms, and collect points to win the house cup at the end of each year. There are four houses: Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Harry and his friends belonged to Gryffindor. Obviously, his children want to carry on the legacy.
Inevitable conflicts
Nevertheless, Harry's youngest son Albus Severus gets sorted into the "wrong" house. We won't spoil anything else, but this is one of the most important components of the storyline. That, and Albus' tense relationship with his dad. Growing up with a famous father, he does not want to get all the attention. He does not live up to the standards of a famous kid - he makes a fool out of himself by being an outcast.
When Albus befriends Scorpius Malfoy, it becomes obvious that there is some trouble ahead. Scorpius Malfoy is Draco Malfoy's son, a former follower of the dark wizard Voldemort, who Harry had defeated 19 years earlier. Not only Albus suffers from his family's name and reputation, but also Scorpius, who is said to be Voldemort's son. Their extra-ordinary will to be ordinary kids creates a strong bond of affection and friendship - against many peoples' wishes.
A very fast story
The story line is very fast-paced and packed with events, dragging the reader through Albus' first four years at school within a few pages, something I'd criticize, but that may be the nature of a play. Each scene contains some big event where the protagonists either face a problem or experience something strange. The reader does not have enough time to get familiar with a character until something happens that causes another plot twist. Again, this critique is not against the storyline; it shows that watching a live performance play and reading the script are two different things.
So this book cannot to be compared to the seven novels, even if it is a sequel of the original story. Nevertheless, it is a rousing story - a treasure for all Harry Potter fans who have waited nine years since the last book was published. "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" takes you back to Hogwarts, back to Harry’s adventures, back to the fascinating world of wizards. Rowling does not add new magical sensations, she rather relies on the detailed description of the wizard world in her previous seven books and tells a whole new terrific story.