Potterheads don’t have to be divided into the Love-cursed-child-group or Hate-cursed-child-group. There can be a Mixed-feelings-for-cursed-child group as well, which is sitting at fence and loving and hating the play at the same time, says Manasi Y Mastakar.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts I & II (Special Rehearsal Edition)
J K Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany
Publisher: Little Brown
Pages: 352; Price: Rs 899
It’s been 9 since the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released, but the memories are still fresh, of a grown up Harry, Ron and Hermione waving goodbye to their kids. And Cursed Child picks up exactly from where Rowling’s Deathly Hallows ended. Every Potterhead (it’s a term with which Harry Potter fans like to refer themselves to) in the Muggle world (for the non-potter fans, a muggle means a non magical person, muggle world means non magical world), has hoped, or literally prayed to every god, for Rowling to write a sequel to the series. And over the years, if not a sequel, Rowling has given little titbits, or a sneak peek (like short stories on the Pottermore site) in the world of Harry Potter post the battle of Hogwarts. Until, December 2013, when it was announced that a stage play based in Harry Potter was in the offing, little did fans know then, it will be about Harry’s 2nd son (Albus Severus Potter) and not Harry himself.
Harry Potter and Cursed Child takes place 19 years after the Deathly Hallows ends. The Epilogue has been reused in the play, to give the readers a familiar place to begin with. So Potterheads will remember Albus being particularly worried about getting sorted into Slytherin, and Harry assuring him it doesn’t matter which house Albus is. Harry, to make his son feel better, shares a secret about the Sorting Hat. “It takes your choice into consideration,” Harry says to Albus. And Albus is relieved on hearing this.
The train departs and we are witnessing the sorting ceremony. Harry’s eldest son, James Sirius Potter is in Gryffindor, but Albus gets sorted into Slytherin (more spoilers ahead). And Rose, Ron and Hermione’s elder daughter gets sorted in Gryffindor as well. It might come as a shock to many, but this is just a beginning of surprises. Another one being, the unlikely friendship between a Potter and a Malfoy — Albus Potter and Scorpious Malfoy (Draco Malfoy’s son). Remember Draco? Harry’s archenemy at school? Well yes, Albus and Scorpious are not just friends, they are best friends. And Scorpious has a crush on Rose! Oh boy, what would grandpa Lucius say?
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The awkwardness between the boys is evident at first, when Albus asks Scorpious if he could share the compartment on Hogwarts Express. But later, they form an unbreakable bond, just like Harry, Ron and Hermione. Scorpious is very sweet and loving, unlike his father Draco. And Albus is unlike Harry too (he can’t play Quidditch now is he a good flyer), or he tries to be, just to break away from being a mirror image of the boy who lived. We see a different kind of Draco in Cursed Child, a more humane Draco. He’s not the villainous golden haired boy anymore. The redemption that we see Draco looking for in Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallow has been given to him in Cursed Child. You almost sort of like him.
When the play came out, I was afraid to be disappointed, after all the Harry Potter series holds such prestigious place in literature that you don’t it to be tarnished in anyway. The Cursed Child is not a complete disappointment, but it doesn’t really match up to the previous books’ level either. I’m ok with the format, the fast-paced scenes, the rushness in the happenings – it’s a play after all what to expect? What I’m not ok is with the characters — there’s no depthness.
In order to keep up with the pace of the play a lot has been left out. Like we don’t know what problems does Albus exactly have with Harry. And we don’t really see him talking about it with Scorpious either. Nor do we know what’s wrong between Scorpious and Draco. We JUST know they both have daddy issues.
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Nostalgia, and some more nostalgia all throughout. It was a delight to revisit Hogwarts again, and meet some old characters – Prof McGonagall for one, who’s now the Headmistress. We also come across Snape in an alternate world brought upon due to Albus and Scorpious’ messing with past events using time turner (we’ll come back to this later). We also see the sinister Umbridge in the same alternate world. Nostalgia is fine, but where are the other characters? Hagrid? How come we don’t have him? Prof Neville is only mentioned, but he has no scenes whatsoever.
Coming back to the time turner plot, why do we have it in the first place, weren’t they destroyed in Order of the Phoenix? And ok let’s say we have one, a prototype at that, how come Harry, who happens to be the Head of Magical Law Enforcement doesn’t hear a thing about it? Also Albus being hell bent on righting the “mistakes” of his father by saving Cedric and helping Delphi whom he has met just once makes no sense.
Voldemort having a child is also something that led to many eye rolls. Voldemort had no human feelings at all, and love making needs at least a little of it if not more. And plus, if Bellatrix was pregnant with Voldemort’s child how come the Wizarding world was oblivious to this? Why weren’t there any “whispers”, as there were regarding the return of Dark Lord? And Bellatrix was the kind who would advertise in the Daily Prophet that she was carrying the Dark Lord’s child.
When the play was announced, it was said it will be about the future generation. So why weren’t we given more of James, Lily, Rose, Hugo, Harry’s godson Teddy or Victoria (Bill and Fluer’s daughter), with the later three not even receiving any kind of mention. I would have loved to see the relationships between these kids. Especially, James, Albus and Lily. What were the siblings like? Plus, Scorpious having a crush on Rose is such a cute thing.
The older characters are alright too – Harry is still hot-headed, Hermione authoritative (she’s now the Minister of Magic after all), Ginny is…just there, in between. And Ron, what on earth were the makers thinking? He runs the joke shop with George, which is again fine, but being shown as dumb, is something I can’t digest. Ron wasn’t the smartest of the characters, but he was never lame in the entire series. We also see Harry and Draco forming alliance when they go back in time to save the kids – the dad feelings take over, making them move past their previous differences.
We get to see more of Dumbledore and Harry, with Harry seeking advice from him – sorry his paintings. Also the confrontation scene between Harry and Dumbledore is quite touching. We know Harry is struggling to be a good dad to Albus, and this shows when he says to Dumbledore, “I have proved as bad a father to him as you were to me.” The scene is quite poignant and I could actually imagine Harry being transformed into a teenager, with a lot of anger harbouring within when Dumbledore is not around to explain things to him (something that happens in Order of the Phoenix). And Prof McGonagall’s explanation to Harry about portraits is quite insightful.
Each and every scene of the play reeks of a past reference, one can’t stop from drawing comparisons between the adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermione, and Albus and Scorpious. Seeing Snape again, and in positive light, was nostalgic. It brought back memories of Snape from the beginning of the books, making you wish Albus had met him.
By sorting Albus in Slytherin, the writers have tried to show a different side to the defamed house – house which has ever since the first book not received much appreciation. It shows that not the entire house was full of death eaters, there were good people too.
Even without the time turner plot, or the Voldemort’s child part, the play would have worked if they were to focus more on the relationship aspect between the characters. There is so much one can draw from all the characters 19 years later. Though Rowling has said this officially the end of Harry Potter, wish there were more. Because the play doesn’t do justice to the 7 books from which it heavily draws from, leaving you screaming for more.
I’m not disappointed with the play but I have mixed feelings about it, which is ok I guess. To put it in Sirius’ words “the world isn’t divided between good people and death eaters”. Similarly Potterheads don’t have to be divided into the Love-cursed-child-group or Hate-cursed-child-group. There can be a Mixed-feelings-for-cursed-child group as well, which is sitting at fence and loving and hating the play at the same time.
