Harry Potter steps out on another stage

The stage is set for Harry Potter's latest incarnation - in screenplay form. 

HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD
J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne
Hachette

By RENE NOL

Harry Potter is back!

Not the adolescent Harry who saved the wizarding world from Lord Voldemort, but an overworked 37-year-old father of three children, whose mother is his wife, Ginny Weasley. Typically, he is facing yet another heartbreaking problem.

Harry's second son, Albus Severus, named for the two men he most admired and respected, doesn't see eye to eye with his father, and the tensions this causes threaten family stability. Oh, and the firm friendship between Albus and Draco Malfoy's son Scorpius isn't helping matters.

So, what with serious qu‚estions about which house he will be in also in the mix, Albus' first term at Hogwarts isn't getting off to a great start, long before he even sets foot on Platform 9¾.

This is the scene set as readers plunge again into magic, mystery and mayhem, this time via a playscript (the play is running in London concurrently). It reads well for a script, but without the detail written into novels and lacking the actors' characterisations, the reader has to work harder to "see'' the action.

In compensation, the story is full of twists and turns, which require concentration to follow. I enjoyed it, and it will be interesting to see how long the play runs.

Rene Nol is a Dunedin reader.

 

 

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