Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts One and Two: The Official Playscript of the Original West End Production
£3.80£9.50 (-60%)
It’s been nineteen years since Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger saved the wizarding world, and now they’re back on a most extraordinary adventure, joined by a brave new generation that’s only just arrived at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son, Albus, struggles with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present collide, both father and son are locked in a race through time as they battle mysterious forces, all while the future hangs in the balance.
Based on an original story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the complete and unabridged playscript of the award-winning West End production. This edition includes the final dialogue and stage directions of the original, two-part play, a conversation piece between director John Tiffany and playwright Jack Thorne, the Potter family tree, and a timeline of key events in the wizarding world leading up to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
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Additional information
| Publisher | 1st edition (25 July 2017), Sphere |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 352 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0751565350 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0751565362 |
| Reading age | 9+ years, from customers |
| Dimensions | 12.6 x 2.8 x 19.8 cm |
by Linda Morciano
One of my grandson’s favourites he loves this authors stories . Hasn’t put it down worth the money any day .
by Jan
I am not a great reader and have only ever read 9 books through in my life. Most of which were the Harry Potter books.
Having read the whole Harry Potter book set and enjoying them. If I’m honest I would have preferred this book to be like the last ones, in story form, rather than a play format. But still enjoyable from what I have read so far.
by malebron
SPOILER HEAVY REVIEW!
I’m coming to this from the slightly atypical direction of someone who did not grow up with the original books, but whose children – specifically my daughter – did, which is why the original books hold a special place in my heart. And also from the direction of one of those dodgy fanfiction writers who had believed until a year or so ago that Rowling’s canon was basically complete. So the addition of new canon is quite a big thing for me personally.
Having my own particular headcanon about certain things, I came to this with mixed feelings. I wished it had not been conceived in the first place, but since it was, I wanted to know what was in it. If I hadn’t been somewhat committed to reading this, I would almost certainly have given up after the first few pages which are a) initially an unnecessary recap of the epilogue to Deathly Hallows and b) apparently employing fanfiction tropes which are so common they have become, effectively fanon. On reflection I think this could be a deliberate device to avoid alienating Rowling’s fanfiction-writing and reading fans of whom there are enough that she can’t really afford to ignore or upset them. In fact this script seems to be a contradictory mixture of both pandering to those fans but simultaneously showing contempt for them.
On the whole, I’m surprised that the reviews are so positive – though I shouldn’t be, as I’m sure most of the readers at this early stage are determined to like it no matter what its flaws and weaknesses, which are legion. I don’t expect a play script (Not a screenplay, people!) to have much in the way of characterisation; that, after all, is a job for the actors and directors, but still this felt terribly thin in that area at the beginning – though it did improve towards the end. After the dull recap of the epilogue, I found the early parts of the story less than engaging. For example, at one point, “Harry is slightly heartbroken”, which must be about the worst bit of stage direction in the history of the theatre.
But it does get better thankfully and it began to hold my attention somewhat. There are a few sparks and some pertinent commentary here and there, (I thought Albus’s remark that Hogwarts is not a very nice place ‘if you don’t fit in’ is surprisingly observant considering that Hogwarts was always presented as a sort of Utopia) and the thing does begin to come to life. There is the potential for a terrific, proper Harry Potter story in the background (It’s not the one the play is about, mind, but may well be the one that Rowling or someone will write)
.
Now this, no doubt, is a rollicking good spectacle in the theatre. I don’t think it would have had such glowing reviews without the very significant hype and of course the expectations that came along with it. But I’m sure it wouldn’t stand up on its own, which begs the question, was it really worth doing at all?
I’m never going to see the stage play, so I’m not even going to try and unpick that question – but I suspect that when all the hype dies down, people will be talking about it far more critically than they are now.
The main problem with this, apart from the fact that it is a rather boring read, is that the plot is awful. Considering it was written by paid professionals with, presumably input from Rowling herself, I expected something much cleverer than this. It uses the single biggest plot hole in the original canon (the one you can’t avoid noticing, but you are so engaged by the story that you willingly suspend your disbelief. You know, how a timeturner is used to rescue Sirius (the first time, but not the second) and Buckbeak, but is never used for any of the other things it might have come in useful for. You know, like saving Harry’s parents, preventing the war, etc. . .).
Time travel obviously has been used in fiction many times; there’s nothing new in the concept that interfering in the past will have unforeseen consequences. Sometimes it’s done intelligently and sometimes not, but there should always be some sort of underlying logic and rules. Except here, there don’t seem to be any. Nothing is explained, and it simply doesn’t make any sort of sense, not even on the most simplistic level. As far as I can see, time travel is used as a way to shoehorn in any random old event or character they fancied putting into the play (And speaking of characters, there are some unforgivably huge omissions).
Obviously the whole premise of Rowling’s wizarding world is a fantastical whimsy in the first place and one that many people, me included, love to bits. But for a story to work, it has to conform to the rules of that world. It has to be plausible in that context. And this, I’m afraid, isn’t. I don’t even think the writers are as familiar with the canon as they should be. They certainly don’t know it as well as the real fans do, and you would think basic research would be a given. But . . .
The way the time travel aspect is handled, is a great big fat implausible, illogical, inexplicable chaotic mess. The average ten year-old could have worked this out better. The writers have twisted the rules of the wizarding world to make the things they wanted to put in the story happen. And that’s just lazy, bad writing. They could have used this opportunity to explain why the timeturner couldn’t have been used where it seems obvious that it should have been, but they didn’t. And if they didn’t because they couldn’t, then they had no business using this particular overused fanfiction plot device in the first place. And making Snape into some misbegotten clichéd fanfiction hero? Sorry but no. Just no. That almost finished it for me. But when all that stupidity was done, from part 2, act 3 scene 11, it got massively better. For a while. At last we were seeing some characterisation, some thoughtful plotting and finally something was happening that made me want to know what was going on. It just took far too long to get there. It becomes at this point in fact, something like a mummer’s play – or indeed a mystery play – as we head towards the Harrowing of Hell. The idea of the two-dimensionally villainous Delphi being the secret love-child of Bellatrix and Voldemort is quite frankly too stupid for words, but it would be a relatively straightforward bit of editing to change that and find a better explanation. But as it approached the end I’m afraid it all turned into fat, incomprehensible mess again.
There are a few interesting concepts – the idea of transmitting a message through time is one, but I don’t think it was done very well here – a sadly missed opportunity to do something quite memorable. Like everything else in this script, it felt badly thought through and executed and at one point, rather ‘Harry Potter meets The Exorcist’.
So to summarise my feelings. Although lots of people are liking it now, I think they will start to see through it soon enough and unlike the original books, I don’t think it will stand the test of time. It wasn’t quite as awful as I feared, though to my horror, what I had taken for ridiculous, deliberately misleading plot spoilers were actually true. But it definitely wasn’t worth a tenner and it has in an odd way, tainted the original canon for me too, which feels like a genuine loss.
I have given it two stars because there are some promising ideas hidden away, but nothing is properly developed.
There are many better fanfictions out there available to read for free. Don’t waste your money on this, it’s rubbish.
by Zachary Bedson
Very fun and interesting read that helps to continue the magic of the World of Wizarding in our minds. I would definitely recommend reading immediately after completing deathly hallows
by Harry Potter
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is something I have done my waiting for (9 years of it! IN AZKABAN!) and I can say, when the new edition to the series (Sirius?) was announced I was overjoyed but worried. History has shown that when you take something that is perfect (or as close too perfect as can be) and add to it you negate what was there originally (look at the Star Wars prequels). I have heard a lot of people complain that the Cursed Child does this to the Harry Potter series. I decided to write this review to explain why I think this is not the case, before I do, I will give a brief, spoiler free synopsis of the story:
Set two decades after the Deathly Hallows, The Cursed Child follows Harry and his son Albus (many other characters such as Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Draco and Professor McGonagle – amongst others – make an appearance). When we begin Albus has just started at Hogwarts and soon becomes friends with Draco Malfoys son Scorpius (who in my opinion was one of the best characters in the play but more on that later). Albus has a difficult relationship with Harry and the pair can’t seem to get along the way he does with his other children – Lily and James – and so Albus feels isolated from his family because of this. Soon into the story it is revealed that, contrary to the belief set in the original books that all time turners were destroyed in the battle of the department of Mysteries in the Order of the Phoenix, that there is a time turner still in existence. After some time Albus and Scorpius manage to steal the time turner and they travel back to 1994 to try and save Cedric Diggory (their logic is that if he loses the first tri-wizard task he will not be able to tie for the cup in the third task) however, this blows up in their faces and the story is set when they have to try and repair the damage they have done by meddling with time.
I understand the fact that it angers people that a time turner exists because we were told they were destroyed and even more so I understand why they are annoyed that it can travel back over twenty years when it was made clear they can only travel back around five hours (this is explained when Hermione comments that it is an entirely different kind of time turner than the one she had). However, while I don’t love this, I still think it makes for fun reading.
Another complaint is that, because Rowling wrote this in the form of a play and with outside help – she usually writes solo, that it reads at times like a fanfiction. I get this, at some points during dialogue I see myself thinking that a character would never say that, however, we must remember they are over twenty years older in this story. No one is the same when they are around forty as they were when they were a teenager. This is most evident with Ron who now seems to be there purely because the plot dictates that he returns as he is part of the golden trio. I found myself thinking he was acting like a bit of a comedic idiot throughout, however, this is not a bad thing through and through as it is understandable. What I’m trying to articulate is that I can see how he got to this point in his life (I mean he has been running a joke shop with George – his brother – for years so you can see why he likes to crack a joke here and there).
I can’t lie and say this is my favourite entry in the series – that honour goes to the Prisoner of Azkaban – but I can say that I’m glad it exists and I’m not really sure why it is receiving so much heavy criticism. As an avid Harry Potter fan who has read and re-read the series more times than I care to remember I find happiness in a new edition in which I will be able to do this with. While I respect that some people simply don’t enjoy the story I think it is childish for them to deny it as canon, Rowling has said this is canon and so it is. My one major quarrel which really infuriates me is a part of the story I thought to be outright crazy was ***SPOILER – SPOILER – SPOILER!!!*** Voldemort having a child. Without revealing who he or she is I have to say that this made me madder than a hatter, it was established that Voldemort couldn’t feel love and was inhuman and while love isn’t needed to conceive a child I just cannot believe that he would bump uglies with ***SPOILER – SPOILER – SPOILER!!!*** Bellatrix Lestrange.
Other than this I enjoyed the Cursed Child. I did and as I mentioned earlier I really liked Scorpius. When I heard he would be a major character I felt quite, I don’t know, cautious. Even his name kind of annoyed me (I knew it beforehand because of the epilogue of Deathly Hallows, pottemore and whatnot but it still didn’t sit right with me) however I thought he was, in a word, fantastic.
It is established early on that he is Albus’ best (and only) friend and that they are outcasts at Hogwarts but he was still, despite this, a funny and kind character unlike his father at that age. He says many things throughout which gave me a giggle and even the way he spoke when he fumbled over his words and said exactly what he was thinking as he was thinking it (not in an entitled way more of a silly way) made me think he was a great character but he was by no means dumb and he had his own set of family problems to rival Albus’. More on the Malfoys, I have never been a fan of Dramione (don’t worry Draco and Hermione have no romantic interests in the story) fanfics and was never able to understand why people obsessed over Draco – I guess it was the “bad boy” aspect – as I thought he was an ass when he was at Hogwarts and while in the end he never followed Voldemort I think he was a pretty s***ty person and as he raised Scorpius he was able to instil him with better values and it’s apparent as he is a far friendlier person – though this may be down to his mother, Astoria, however, I think this story shows that Draco is not a bad person when it comes down to it. He is by no means an amazing guy though he shows in the Cursed Child that he cares deeply for his son and eventually even comes to see Harry, Ron and Hermione as pretty great people. The scene that made me come around to Draco was when he said that he always envied Harry because he had real friends while he had Crabbe and Goyle who were never really his friends, they were to him, even in school, just like lackeys who only followed him because of who he was.
I realise I have rambled in writing this and I hope, if you’ve read this far, that you have enjoyed what I’ve had to say. Yes, the Cursed Child has flaws (bringing up and changing past rules with time, returning characters who may not have been necessary – I never touched on this but read and make up your own mind on the subject – amongst other things that people don’t like) but it also a nice addition to the Harry Potter franchise. I would have, honestly, preferred it in book form because most of the story is set during Albus’ third year and so it kind of jumps to that and I think it might have been good to have a sort of next generation series, something I have never been a fan of until now, however, I can see why this wouldn’t have worked as it seems the first two might be a bit of a bore. I’m giving it four stars because I think there were a few flaws but overall I really did enjoy the story and I will be adding it to my next re-read of the series. I think the characters were great, if a bit off at time, I think the story, while a bit flawed, made for a fun read (and likely many re-reads) and I think that it was overall a nice new addition, and hey, if you don’t like it we always have Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in November. I would recommend it to any Harry Potter fan but I’d do so with caution because it is clear that some people don’t like it, however, if you’re on the fence just go for it. I enjoyed it and I think, if you like the originals you might too, sure it might make you shout at the page a couple of times like I did but in the end it was worth it and I would like to see more of these characters (both old and new). As for the live stage play, well I’m yet to see it, however, I hear it is just wonderful.