I was very lucky to have a friend buy tickets for herself and me to go and watch Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. These tickets were booked a year in advance and so it’s weird to think I’ve now seen it and the whole experience is over *sad face* As promised in the title, there will be no spoilers in this post about the play itself, I won’t even mention the plot, characters or post photos which give away anything to do with it. Instead, I wanted to blog about the experience and share a couple of photos of the things I bought (so there are photos of souvenirs, also viewable online in the shop, but fair warning if you don’t want to see that stuff either!)
Somehow, through a big dose of sheer luck (and a lot of avoidance of Tumblr and Twitter), I wasn’t spoiled at all with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Going into it, I knew very little besides the strapline, that it was set 19 years later and was about the next generation. I’d also glanced at the casting when it was announced but had mostly forgotten even that. I went to the launch of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child screenplay (round up of the event here) and managed to be really disciplined about not flicking through the book or even reading the blurb (fangirl self-discipline ftw!)
The whole experience was beyond anything I could’ve imagined! I was gripping my poor friend’s hand the entire time and she mine and there were tears – won’t say if good or bad 😉 Before Part II my friend C and I met up with another Potterhead friend A, who was lucky enough to see it during the first few days of general release and we discussed our predictions for the second part. Suffice to say I was not at all prepared for the finale! During the intermission on the second night, I went a little overboard on the souvenir buying and my haul multiplied from the modest programme and magnet to the above. I ended up buying: a photo book of the making of the play, a programme, a tote bag, a t-shirt, a pencil, a postcard and magnet *sheepish*
I’m already trying to plan my next trip. I love the idea of experiencing something Harry Potter related for the first time – haven’t been many opportunities for this since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was published and so a play in the HP canon was beyond my, and I imagine many fans’, wildest dreams. I can’t wait for more people to watch the play so the fandom can start having discussions about the play and plot but until then I will most definitely be #keepingthesecret 🙂