Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne & John Tiffany

Rating: 4/5

Warning: this review contains mild spoilers! The plot is very broadly outlined below but I have tried to keep what I believe to be the major reveals a secret. 

While certainly a different medium, Rowling’s latest work retains the magic of the original series.

Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy serve as our teenage guides to Hogwarts this time around. Just like their fathers before them, they have more passion than sense. When they hear of an injustice, the two unlikely friends use any means necessary to right the wrong.

In a tongue-in-cheek reference to the trio’s polyjuice disaster, Scorpius, Albus and Delphie Diggory use the potion to sneak into Hermione’s office to steal a time turner. They try to go back to the past and change things for the better, but they soon find out that any changes to the past have unintended consequences for the future.
Rowling pokes fun at several plot points that have been questioned over the years. In two of the realities Ron and Hermione are shocked at the thought they would end up together; in one, Draco Malfoy is the monster we all believed him to be for so long.

There are some…shall we say inconsistencies with the play and canon. When the time turner is discovered, Hermione seems shocked at its existence. Then we hear about prototype time turners vs. real ones. All which begs the question, which did Hermione use while at Hogwarts. Additionally, while in one of the alternate realities, Albus whips us a polyjuice potion from ingredients he finds at Bathilda Bagshot’s house — all well and good except we all know that the potion takes at least a month to brew. Finally, he big reveal calls into question some key facts we believed about Voldermort.(I’ll leave it there to keep this review light on spoilers)
Ultimately, the story does little to change cannon and for that I am grateful. All of the characters we know and love are there — including some we feared we would never see again.

This play offers another way for Hogwarts to welcome all of us home.