In all and 100% total honesty, I was not expecting an 8th story from J.K Rowling so this came as a very welcome surprise. I liked the idea of taking the story from book and film form to the stage. Now the obvious major problem with this was the popularity of Harry Potter from all around the world and not everyone was going to be able to secure tickets. It took me a fair while to get tickets when they were first released and I had over 22,000 people ahead of me in the virtual queue! I really didn't think I would be lucky enough to secure tickets, but by some miracle I did. I had to wait nearly a whole year to see it, but it was so worth the wait!
My performance was a few days after the script book was published, but I decided that I wasn't going to read it until after I had seen the show. I was thinking that usually I like to read a book before the film, but thought as this was just a script I decided I would wait until after and I am so glad I did.
If you haven't already succumbed or you just could not wait any longer, I really would wait until you have seen the theatre show. You just won't get the same experience from reading it. Theatre is about an immersive experience and there are no visual affects, it is all clever lighting and stage movement and you just cannot replicate this from just reading the script book. You obviously get what is going on with the storyline, but you are definitely missing out on the whole experience by reading the book beforehand.
Now onto the story itself. I have seen lots of people picking holes at the storyline and some saying that they were even disappointed, but this was far from the case with me. I was in awe the whole time I was watching. The original characters felt very representative of their younger selves, especially Harry and I was so delighted to meet the next generation of characters like Albus and the best friend he makes.
I thought that the storyline worked really well and it constantly surprised and shocked me. I have never been quite so entranced by a theatre show before and with such a quiet audience. I was also gutted to know that I missed out on seeing Rupert Grint as he was there on the night of the performance that I went!
I of course had to read the script after the show and it just brought it all back to me, which is why I think I made the right decision in watching the show first before reading. Yes I know I was lucky as didn't have to wait long in comparison to others and I know a friend of mine won't see it until next year, but even if I had not got tickets, I still would have waited.
The whole set up was absolutely magical and I was so impressed with the whole cast and crew as they did an amazing job and really did the story justice. Although of course not my favourite story, it was still a J.K Rowling achievement and I am so glad she decided to give fans that little bit more of Harry Potter magic.
I haven't read it yet (but can't wait to do!) Great review (and blog)!
ReplyDeleteIt is fab! hope you enjoy it and thank you so much :)
Delete