After an enforced 49-week pause because of COVID-19, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has reopened at The Princess Theatre, its return to the stage a beacon of hope for the theatre sector globally.
‘I think the Hamburg production [of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child] were a week off their opening night when they got shut down in Germany, and they haven’t yet got to come back. Nor has anywhere else in the world, so we’re feeling very, very privileged,’ said actor Soren Jensen, who plays a number of roles in the Melbourne production, including the half-giant Hagrid and the Sorting Hat.
Gareth Reeves, who plays Harry Potter, said the re-opening of the Melbourne production was an important reminder of just how lucky the Australian theatre sector is, given the grim situation facing the sector in the USA, Europe and the UK.
‘There’s so much emotion and so many hopes pinned to the Melbourne production, and when we get these video messages from overseas – not only is it inspiring and humbling, it’s also, boy, you get a real reminder of how well we’re doing here, you know, and how bad things are in other places,’ Reeves said.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child broke Australian theatre records in its first year, attracting more than 325,000 people, making it the most successful play in the country’s history. The record had previously been held by the Melbourne Theatre Company’s The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time.
Harry Potter fans travelled from near and far to enjoy the production with 50% of ticket holders coming from regional Victoria, interstate and from 42 countries around the world. The production is supported by the Victorian Government’s $100 million Major Events Fund, with a COVIDSafe Plan in place to protect cast and crew, audience members and the wider public, including crowd limits and a requirement for audience members to wear masks.
Soren Jensen in the Australian production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Photo: Matthew Murphy.
Returning to the epic stage production, which is presented in two parts and continues the story first told in author J.K. Rowling’s phenomenally popular series of children’s books, was not without its challenges after such a long period away from the stage.
‘It was a really uncertain period and it was difficult to know how to occupy yourself [during lockdown],’ Jensen explained.
Read: Our 2021 review of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts 1 and 2
‘I think the cast certainly had a period where we were meeting monthly, fortnightly, sometimes to Zoom together and see each other and read through certain acts of the script, just to try and keep it fresh. But it also felt that as things extended out, that was difficult for us to do – it’s like trying to keep a spring coiled, and there was a point where that became exhausting, so I think everyone found their own projects and things to occupy themselves,’ he said.
Returning to the rehearsal room, and now being back on stage before an audience, has proved deeply satisfying for Reeves.
‘I’m finding it personally, wonderful, because I’m fulfilling my purpose in life again, but also, I’ve got nothing to prove, because I am in this unique position where I’ve done this show for 18 months or so, had an eight month break, and I don’t have to prove to anyone that I can do it anymore. I know I can, everyone else knows I can. So I’m relaxed, and I’m breathing and I’m playful and present and I’m finding, I think, that I’m maybe doing better work than I’ve ever done,’ he said.
Despite the enforced pause, his body has retained much of the production’s choreography, though he’s not always conscious of the fact, Reeves added.
‘There is some muscle memory, but often my legs are running places and my head doesn’t know why. And then I get there and I pick up a prop and then I’m like, “Oh yeah, that’s right, of course.” So I’m amazed how much my body knows more than my head and I’m trying to trust that. There’s a lot of laughing going on, which is good too,’ he said.
Jensen agreed. ‘This show’s still in our bones,’ he said.
Read: The Boy Who Lived On: 20 years of Harry Potter
While they’re relishing being back in the theatre, both actors are conscious of the responsibility of embodying such beloved characters – and also aware that for many of the young people attending the play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child may well be their first ever experience of live theatre.
‘The way those books introduced kids to reading, we’re introducing a lot of our audience to theatre who might have never been before. And hearing the audience’s reaction, when we turn 15 suitcases into a train before their eyes, for people who haven’t been to theatre before and don’t know about that particular type of magic? That’s so satisfying,’ said Reeves.
‘It’s always been my personal mission anytime I see someone at stage door – which I guess we won’t be doing so much anymore – but you know, if I see someone holding the script, I’m like, “Have you read it? No? Great, go home and read it and then go to the Malthouse, go to Red Stitch, go to the Melbourne Theatre Company, go to fortyfivedownstairs. Get out [and see more theatre]. If you liked this, boy, are you now ready for a whole world of magic,”’ he laughed.
In recent years, the creator of Harry Potter has alienated some fans with hurtful and transphobic comments. Do Reeves and Jensen feel Rowling’s comments have tainted the production in any way?
‘What I feel,’ Reeves said, ‘is that Harry Potter the character and the story and the mythology of it, for me, lives beyond J.K. Rowling now. Her Twitter and online personality and opinions are very much hers and I just don’t feel a connection with that.
‘Personally speaking, I’m incredibly sympathetic to anyone that felt hurt by those comments, and we certainly rallied around anyone across the world and the companies that that did feel hurt, and looked for ways to support them.
‘But do I feel that our story, our production and Harry Potter is tainted by that? No. I honestly feel – and I’ve never met her – I have great respect for this incredible thing that she’s created, but I feel like it lives on its own, now, beyond J.K. Rowling, to be honest,’ he said.
Jensen agreed, adding: ‘It’s tough to define and [Rowling’s transphobia is] certainly not something that I personally can support. But we’ve got such amazing members of our cast and our crew who are non-binary, transgender, and it was conflicting for them. But our production exists as its own entity with our own family and community here, and they know they have nothing but support from us.’
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is now playing exclusively at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre.
