Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Review

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child 
Part One Review

Jack Thorne, J. K. Rowling and John Tiffany

What a joy it is to be delving back into the Potterverse! Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic, the Hogwarts Express and of course Harry, Ron and Hermione. This time though, the story is centred on a friendship between Harry’s son Albus, and Draco’s son Scorpius, who have become friends…and Slytherin classmates. Part One has been a fascinating reintroduction to the magical world, and the story concerns Albus’ frustration at living under the shadow of the famous Harry Potter, and their (Albus and Scorpius’s) attempts to change history to right a wrong. To a correct an injustice. A Mistake. 

The play format has been exceptionally easy to read, and I have flown through the pages so far, hence the Part One review. I am trying my best not to give too much away as I want everyone to have the excitement and wonderment of reading a Potter story once again.

Albus and Scorpius are outsiders or their families and at Hogwarts, and we are given a year-by-year summation of Albus’ discontent at being the son of the famous wizard and having the burden of the Potter name placed upon him. Their relationship is fractious and an unhappy one, which Harry fails to mend at every turn.

The story develops when Albus overhears a conversation between Harry and a name from the past (not saying who!) who is unhappy twenty years on from their relation’s untimely death (hint). This springboards Albus into action into rewriting the history books by correcting his father’s mistake. He enlists the help of his best friend Scorpius and they begin their exciting and dangerous journey to the Ministry, the Forbidden Forest and many other notable places we Potterheads know so well.

Part One has been a great introduction, and the cliffhanger ending has set Part Two up perfectly, and also makes me wonder why someone would buy a ticket to Part One and not Part Two as well!! The characters we know so well from the original books create a nice bridge from those stories into the new stories, and the new characters, particularly Albus and Scorpius. The pair are distinctly different from one another and also their parents, but there are some noticeable traits in both that they seem to have inherited from their parents that are remarked upon during Part One. I am debating whether to finish it today, or savour the moment and draw Part Two….

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