On The Subject of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Spoilers

On the eve of first previews, J.K. Rowling puts out a video plea to fans to not reveal Harry Potter and the Cursed Child spoilers.

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Tomorrow, the preview of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Part 1 will play for the first time eager audience. For those unaware of the difference between “first preview” and “opening night,” think of the next 50 or so days of performances as test runs of the show. In light of how audiences react to certain moments, scenes can change–from minor tweaks in blocking, to complete scene rewrites. These are works in progress and the audiences who see them should consider them so.

This is the way theater works. In movies, when they have their versions of “first previews,” they are done in front of private test audiences. Said test audiences are, for larger named films,usually signed to some sort of nondisclosure agreement, and many take that very seriously, as they are usually people who test audience as a regular thing. But theater isn’t like that. If there are major rewrites due to negative audience reaction, it is a thing that can be seen publicly, as theater audiences see an evolving show over the preview period.

Most of the time, this doesn’t matter. Even when there are larger named stage shows who do major rewrites (think Hamilton retooling Washington’s final number from “One Last Ride” to “One Last Time”) most often times, these plays are not something that is all that involved in what we call “spoiler culture” as Game of Thrones, or Harry Potter are.

And therein lies the problem. Rowling is super into the concept of spoiler culture and keeping the big twists of Potter underwraps. This was fine when she was working in a book format. It would be fine if she were working in a movie or TV format. But the stage world does not work that way. And so, today, Rowling has put out a desperate plea to fans to not give away what happens in a show that is performing in a public venue every night for the next seven weeks.

Those “Keep The Secrets” buttons really are Rowling attempting to control the audience’s behavior in a format that does not usual concern themselves with such things. Moreover, she’s trying to keep these twists quiet in order to make sure that those reading the books will be surprised–perhaps not realizing how much could change over the next fifty days between that original script and the final show on stage. The spoilers we hear may in fact not be the spoilers we read in the slightest.

And that’s where we come in. Now, we are a Harry Potter website, and it is our duty to report news–and that includes if spoilers leak. But we are also aware that this is a new work, and one that is changing every day between now and opening night. And that we don’t actually know what will be a spoiler in the end and what won’t. So everything we post that leaks from the production will come with major warnings, large labels and cavaets, so that those who do not wish to know anything of the process will be able to avoid seeing things that could or could not hold true by the time the show opens on July 30th and the book publishes July 31st.

We hope that works for everyone.