Harry Potter comes to the W/E in Summer 2016
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
BASED on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a new play by Jack Thorne, will receive its world premiere at London’s Palace Theatre in the summer of 2016.
Produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, Colin Callender’s Playground Entertainment and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions, tickets for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will go on public sale this autumn, details of which will be announced soon and be shared on the official website in late July.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will be directed by John Tiffany, with movement by Steven Hoggett, set designs by Christine Jones, costumes by Katrina Lindsay, lighting by Neil Austin, music by Imogen Heap, sound by Gareth Fry and special effects by Jeremy Chernick.
J.K. Rowling is the author of the seven Harry Potter novels, which have sold over 450 million copies and been translated into 78 languages, and three companion books originally published for charity. She also wrote The Casual Vacancy, a novel for adults published in 2012, and, under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith, the Cormoran Strike crime series.
She is currently working on a screenplay for the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, based on the characters in her Harry Potter companion book of the same name.
Jack Thorne writes for theatre, film, television and radio. His theatre credits include Hope and Let The Right One In both directed by John Tiffany, Bunny (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Stacy (Trafalgar Studios) and 2nd May 1997 and When You Cure Me (Bush Theatre). His adaptations include The Physicists (Donmar Warehouse) and Stuart: A Life Backwards (Hightide).
His screen credits include War Book, A Long Way Down and The Scouting Book for Boys (film); The Last Panthers, Don’t Take My Baby, This Is England, The Fades, Glue and Cast-Offs (TV). In 2012, he won BAFTAs for best series (The Fades) and best serial (This Is England 88).
John Tiffany directed Once for which he received multiple awards both in the West End and on Broadway. As Associate Director of the Royal Court, his work includes The Twits, Hope and The Pass.
From 2005 to 2012, he was Associate Director of the National Theatre of Scotland, where his credits include Let The Right One, which transferred to the Royal Court, West End and St. Ann’s Warehouse, Macbeth (also Broadway), Enquirer, The Missing, Peter Pan, The House of Bernarda Alba, Transform Caithness: Hunter, Be Near Me, Nobody Will Ever Forgive Us, The Bacchae and Black Watch, for which he won the Olivier and Critics’ Circle Best Director Awards.
The Commitments continues at the Palace Theatre until November 1, 2015. Also at the Palace Theatre (in the daytime slot): Stiles and Drewe’s Three Little Pigs with Leanne Jones, Simon Webbe and Gareth Gates (August 5 to September 6, 2015).