Your Magical Guide to Melbourne’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Melbourne’s favourite cursed child is celebrating its first birthday this March.
Well, it’s not an actual child, but the Australian production of J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is marking a full year of recording-breaking performances at the Princess Theatre on 1 March.
Picking up where the book and film series left off, we join Harry Potter, Hermione Grainger, Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy 19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts as they navigate parenthood, with their children now the latest class of witches and wizards to walk through Hogwarts.
While the core three get plenty of stage time, the true stars of the play are Albus Potter, Harry and Ginny’s son, and Scorpius Malfoy, Draco’s son, who meet on the Hogwarts Express on their first day.
What follows is a play full of fantastical stage wizardry, with the cast and crew conjuring special technical and human-made illusions that make characters appear as though they’re really levitating, casting spells and feeling the effects of wizarding world lollies (including sweets that make you smoke from the ears).
Presented in two parts, the play can be seen on one day as matinee and evening performances, or split across two evening performances during the week.
Melbourne’s historic Princess Theatre, the production’s Australian base, underwent a $6.5 million renovation to house the show, from carpets emblazoned with the letter “H”, dragon lamps and a moving set made of soaring buttresses, bookcases and a fire place.
Still haven’t been? The play does not tour, and has at this stage made Melbourne its Australian home for the duration of its open run, so join the rest of the muggles in celebrating this milestone in 2020.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by numbers
- Number of performers: 42
- Number of crew: 70
- Quickest costume change: 30 seconds
- Number of wands: 51
- Number of suitcases: 101
- Audience capacity: 1500
- Metres of black fabric for cloaks: 286
