JK Rowling is ‘Done with Harry Potter’ - Dispatch Weekly

World News

August 1, 2016 - Reading time: 5 minutes

As the Cursed Child, a two part play opens at London’s Palace Theatre, JK Rowling tells her legion of fans that the boy Wizard, now 37 is finally, “done.”

The plays focus on Harry’s son, Albus Severus Potter as well as featuring the infamous pals, Ron and Hermione; 19 years after the final novel, the Deathly Hallows.

Harry Potter enthusiasts’ waited patiently to get their hands on a copy of Cursed Child. Once the book was placed into their hands, they took to social media to voice their delight: Twitter quote 3 Twitter quote 2

The globally celebrated writer has told Reuters that the release of the plays and scripts did not mark the release of new stories.

According to Radio Times, she said:

Radio Time Quote

 

The plays that centre on Harry as a 37-year-old parent, has not only received rave reviews but has taken the literary world by storm, becoming the most pre-ordered book of the year.

Scholastic, the US publisher is printing 4.5m script copies, whilst pre-orders at Waterstones were over 100,000 copies.

For die-hard Harry Potter fans there is still an option to get a copy on eBook retailers such as iTunes or Kindle. There is also a Special Rehearsal Edition of the script eBook, which is being sold till early 2017.

According to moviefone.com, the average worldwide gross of the first seven movies was $909,996,615 and worldwide, the movie franchise has grossed $6,369,976,303.

On the pottermore.com fan site, JK Rowling said, “One of the things that I have valued most about the Potter fandom […] is that as a community they have really looked after each other, people have each other’s backs- it’s a special thing. And it’s for that reason, more than any other, I would like us, if we can, to manage to keep our secrets.”
She was excited by the new plays as she added,

“This will be such an incredible theatrical experience that I’d love us to be able to surprise people and move people, in the natural way that a story should surprise and move people.”

John Tiffany and Jack Thorne collaborated with JK Rowling on the story with Jack writing the script and John directing the play.

Jack Thorne’s credits include Skins, Shameless, Hope and Let the Right One In in theatre and Along Way Down and War Book, in film.

John Tiffany directed Once and Black Watch, at the National Theatre of Scotland. He has also directed Peter Pan, Macbeth, The Bacchae and Let the Right One In.

Whilst the play has been sold out, there more tickets are being released Thursday 4 August.

The theatrical performances are not the only way for fantasy lovers to get their Harry Potter kicks as spin-off series Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, debuts on Nov 18 to huge anticipation.

The Cursed Child is playing at the Palace Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue until December 2017, more info on tickets here.

 

DW Staff

David Lintott is the Editor-in-Chief, leading our team of talented freelance journalists. He specializes in covering culture, sport, and society. Originally from the decaying seaside town of Eastbourne, he attributes his insightful world-weariness to his roots in this unique setting.

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