What draws so many people to the Harry Potter series is J.K. Rowling’s creation of an elaborate fantasy world– elements such as vivid dialogue concerning the Wizarding World and descriptions of places such as Ollivander’s wand shop or Hogwarts brought the story to life. It is a fully realized and fleshed out world that J.K Rowling has spent years writing about, building within it a dense history of unique character.
In the concept of a new script for a spin off play titled “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” all subtlety in plot-building and any attempt to preserve the World of Wizarding in its truest form is lost. The new story suffers tremendously from poor dialogue and pacing. It reads much like fan fiction adapted for the stage, and is ultimately disrespectful in every way both to the fans and the source material.
As one reads on in the original series, the histories of various places, people, and happenings unravel, but ever present and primarily important is the progressing exposition on the story’s chief antagonist– Lord Voldemort. The character himself is built up tremendously as a menacing villain, and the payoff is huge, but even before his appearance in “The Goblet of Fire,” Voldemort brings darkness across the Wizarding World.
There is little to no character development to be found in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” It seems that the sole motivation of Albus, Harry’s son, is to rebel against his dad. Any developments made contradict those made in the original books– especially those of the principal characters. Harry and Hermione seize a time turner from a wizard who is up to no good, and Hermione decides it is best to keep the time turner and test it out at a later day. She hides it in a bookshelf, where it will clearly be safest. But as any fan of the series would know, this is not her first time seeing a time turner. Hermione knows exactly what harm these devices can do– most time turners having been destroyed at this point due to the threat they pose to history– and she knows the potential disaster that could come about from such a device falling into the wrong hands. Hermione had the sense to get rid of the time turner she possessed in the third book of the series, and knew that messing around with time was a bad idea, but the Hermione written in the play seems to have little to no foresight on the issue– which is truly unlike her character, one to always think ahead and make smart choices.
“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” chooses time travel as one of its main plot devices, and suffers for it. They shamelessly tamper with the events of the fourth novel, trying to bring back Cedric Diggory. Voldemort is shoved into the plot via time travel and, rather than coming up with a new, original villain, the play’s villain of choice (who is simply shoved into the last act, and had no place in the play as a whole) is Voldemort’s daughter. She was conveniently kept a secret in the original novels, so therefore no one knew about her.
Sequels should always explore new territory in some way– that isn’t to be disputed. Each new Harry Potter book had brand new and freshly threatening mysteries, all while conserving the integrity of the plot and character developments of the novel that came before it. This play simply burrowed back into the original series and refused to leave. Nothing of any importance is added. I recommend that Harry Potter fans skip this book, and instead look forward to the upcoming movie, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”
