New Video Details Behind the Scenes at Cursed Child

A new video details behind the scenes at rehearsals for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

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As we know J.K. Rowling had a very good Monday this week, boasting of her time in London visiting the set of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. She also showed off the brand new wand designs for major characters like Harry, Hermione, Ron, not to mention Ginny and Draco (thereby giving us our first confirmations that they are actually in the show.)

Turns out this was just a preview of what was to come today. The production has just uploaded a video to their YouTube channel detailing Rowling’s visit and few scenes of what’s going on behind the scenes for Cursed Child rehearsals. Sadly there’s no major spoilers (and spoilers are clearly discouraged daily to the oversized cast, as the entry door says “Keep Calm And Keep The Secrets”) but there are a few interesting images.

Check out the full video:

Note the first rehearsal Rowling is seen looking at is all the children standing around waving their wands. Does that mean we will be in Hogwarts?

Then there’s this image, which is sure to cause comment–it’s Paul Thorney (Ron) dueling with Noma Dumezweni (Hermione.) Oh dear.

We also get our first look at Jamie Parker as Harry Potter.

There’s also a serious point to this video. Up until now, we’ve only heard that previews will start “the end of May.” This confirms first preview will be on June 7th. (That’s 50 days from April 18th, when the video was shot.) It’s also doing work in coaching an audience, many of whom are completely unaware of the process that a new production undergoes when it is first staged for an audience.

Most of Rowling’s die hard fans are not theater people, nor are they used to seeing “works in progress.” They are used to novels and movies arriving, fully polished and ready for final consumption. that’s not how things will be here. From June 7th-July 29th, how those previews go as well as the audience’s responses, will cause staging edits and script changes. Sometimes they are minor. But sometimes they involve major restagings and rewrites. And considering the ultra complex nature of this show–which is actually two plays in rep, Parts 1 and 2, those first shows are probably going to be at least somewhat different than the end product, if not radically so.

This leads to the other part of this video, where Rowling talks about how important it is to keep “spoilers” under wraps. This seems… rather half-baked, to be honest. Reviews of previews are a thing, and reviews of previews for a show of this magnitude are not going to be held. I suppose she can hope that the reviewers all keep the spoilers to themselves, but chances are that sign on the cast entry door will not extend past those who pass by it on a daily basis, once the show starts running in front of crowds.

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