Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

by Jack Thorne

seen at the Palace Theatre on 28 November 2018

JohnTiffany directs this two part play based on 'an original new story' by J. K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and himself, which deals with events immediately following the epilogue of the last Harry Potter book - that is, events in the lives of Harry's children and their peers. As the plays have been running for some time now, the original London cast is no longer in action. Harry Potter is played by Jamie Ballard, Ginny Potter by Susie Trayling, Hermione Granger by Franc Ashman, Ron Weasley by Thomas Aldridge and Draco Malfoy by James Howard. In the younger generation, Albus Potter is played by Joe Idris-Roberts, Rose Granger-Weasey by Helen Aluko, Scorpius Malfoy by Jonathan Case and Delphi Diggory by Eve Ponsonby. The production is designed by Christine Jones.

At first, given this time frame and the initial scene-setting of a new generation attending the Hogwarts school, it seems as if the play might be misleadingly named, but later Harry's own participation and predicament receives more attention. In fact, even the earlier scenes are only tangentially reviving audience memories of Hogwarts, as attention focuses on the difficulties youngsters may have being the progeny of famous (or notorious) parents. The increasing richness of the play lies in showing this dilemma from both sides: the anguish and the uncertainty of the parents - really, more specifically, of the fathers Harry and Draco, are just as sympathetically portrayed as the rebellion and frustration of the sons (it has to be said that Rose, the child of the Granger Weasley marriage, is not a particular focus of attention).

Little Eyolf

by Henrik Ibsen

seen at the Alemida Theatre on 17 December 2015

The play is directed by Richard Eyre, in a new adaptation by the director based on a literal translation by Anne and Karin Bamborough. It features Jolyon Coy as Alfred Allmers, Lydia Leonard as his wife Rita, Eve Ponsonby as his sister Asta, Sam Hazeldine as Bjarne Borgheim, Eileen Walsh as the Woman (the so-called 'Rat Wife'), and Adam Greaves-Neal (in this performance) as Eyolf (the son of Alfred and Rita). The set is designed by Tim Hatley and lit by Peter Mumford.

At eighty intense minutes, played without a break, this is a distillation of an already comparatively short play in which a married couple, drifting apart in unhappiness and recrimination even before the catastrophe which concludes the first act, are stretched to breaking point by the accidental drowning of their crippled young son Eyolf.