The story also shuttles back to Harry and the gang, all now adults in their late thirties.

Of course, as two plays, albeit rather long ones, Cursed Child's scope is slightly limited, still I did rather feel that seeing a few new characters, particularly Hogwarts students would've been welcome and would've rounded out the experiences of Albus and Scorpius a little more, since while the hints of their experiences at Hogwarts more than explain their attitude to the place, seeing it in a different light might have been a nice new direction. The comradeship between two outcasts, and two boys who plainly find Hogwarts anything but the magical haven we're used to is one of the most lovely parts of the story, indeed I was a little sorry that the story quickly skips from Albus' first to his fourth year, and we see very few of his fellow students (particularly since it might have given us a chance to see some other aspects of Hogwarts not noticeable in the books). Albus is the slightly overlooked middle child of a famous father, while Scorpius has to live with not only a father who is an ex-deatheater, but the suspicion of being thought the son of Lord Voldemort. Despite the fact that we do not have a specific central character perspective in the script the way we do in the novels, we quickly understand Albus and Scorpius and even the attitude they have. One major thing which this story gets spot on and which I recognized instantly is the instant complexity and realism of its characters. The story follows an unlikely friendship between Harry's middle son Albus Severus, and Draco Malfoy's son Scorpius, meeting on the train to Hogwarts in a scene that consciously mirror's Harry's first meeting with Ron and Hermione. To add a new chapter to that story, reading through the script of Cursed Child with my new and absolutely wonderful wife seems extremely apt, as does writing this review.Ĭursed Child begins with that famous scene from the epilogue of Deathly Hallows with Harry, Ron, Hermione and indeed Draco Malfoy seeing their children onto the Hogwarts express. From a nineteen year old captivated by Stephen Fry's complete reading of Philosopher's Stone on New Year's Day of 2001, to a Potter obsessed undergraduate making a wand out of a twig and shoe polish for a Harry Potter party, to a slightly more jaded post grad getting together with an old friend to finish the series with a spectacular 24 hour reading and a slight sense of melancholy in 2007, I can't deny Harry Potter has had a huge effect on my life as an adult.

New harry potter book