#cast three

So now I guess, some summaries of the characters I’ve met anew on stage tonight. I’ll stick to the main new four for now because I’ve been too overwhelmed with information to be able to describe a lot of the others.

Harry Potter

The Harry I was introduced to tonight is deeply traumatised. He’s damaged by his past, and so stuck in it that he can barely see the present. He’s not a hero anymore, he’s a suffering man who’s been ground down by the years. He’s tired and subdued and his spirit is gone, apart from when he’s with his two best friends. Hermione and Ron bring out in his what’s always been there, and it’s beautiful to see.

He’s a little bit awkward, especially around Albus. He’s trying so hard to be a good dad that it’s a little bit painful. His priority is Albus’s happiness, and that is clear to see throughout their initial interactions in the play and through the blanket scene. When he encourages Albus to make more friends it’s not that Scorpius isn’t good enough, it’s more that he needs more people he can be with, like that will make him happier. Not replacements for Scorpius, just additional. It’s that sort of distinction that shows his care for his son.

This isn’t the Harry I was expecting to see, it’s very different to anything we’ve seen before, but it’s fascinating. He’s fascinating, and I trust Jamie Ballard’s acting with my life already. More on that later.

Ginny Potter

Ginny has clearly been affected by years of living with and loving a traumatised man. Some of her spark has been worn away, and she’s been softened into the most beautiful, caring mother. But, as outside influences begin to shape hers and Harry’s lives again, and as Albus runs away, that fight returns, and we see Ginny in full spirit. My Ginny is back, and I couldn’t be more overjoyed.

Albus Potter

Albus is one that I haven’t quite worked out how to describe yet. I suppose I should talk about Joe’s acting, because that’s what our perceptions of Albus are currently being very much driven by.

When Joe started speaking I heard exactly what I would have expected to hear from Joe; what I’ve heard from him before. There is this little bit of stiffness to him, and I was initially worried that all we would get was Joe, but actually I think there have been notes of naturalness; of Albus. He’s a lot stiffer around his dad than he is around Scorpius. When it comes to Scorpius he relaxes and opens up a bit, which is nice to see.

There have been touches of Albus’s flair (spreading his arms wide and beaming as he says ‘this train is magical!’), and he has some really soft moments. His dynamics are lovely. His movement is also lovely.

What I want from Joe is to see him dig deeper into the character. Surface isn’t deep enough for this show. You can look like Albus and say lines the way Albus might say them, but that’s not becoming Albus, and that’s what I want to see from him because I know he can do it and I want to see him find that within himself.

Scorpius Malfoy

With this one I think I need to start at the beginning and go from there. During his opening couple of scenes I could barely watch him because he is so painfully awkward. This child is the weirdest, shyest nerd, and he’s an absolute disaster. He’s like the most awkward public schoolboy you could imagine.

He has a head twitch. He constantly wrings his hands together or flails them in the air. He’s shy of his own height and stands with his shoulders hunched. He has a bit of a stutter and keeps restarting sentences because he’s so unsure of what he’s trying to say (to reiterate, this is Scorpius, not Jonathan). When he smiles it’s the most wide, beaming, toothy thing in the world.

So very rapidly, I stopped cringing behind my hands whenever he appeared in a scene and instead began clutching my heart, because this is a child who needs protecting. This is the most beautiful sweet child in the world. He is the definition of a sweet baby angel. He’s too precious and ridiculous to be allowed to exist in this world, and I can see why Draco wants to keep him safe.

This is the first time I haven’t seen a show that’s felt largely driven by Scorpius. This one is absolutely a follower not a leader. It’s fascinating. In fact it’s difficult to imagine how this boy can be the Scorpion King, or how he’ll survive the Voldemort timeline. I suppose we’ll find out tomorrow.

I already have an insight into who Jonathan is both in terms of who he is as Scorpius and who he is as an actor. He is clearly immensely skilled. The detail in what he’s doing is incredible. I was a little bit in awe at the beginning of the library scene because there’s so much finesse to his performance. Where do they keep finding these boys from?

What I want to see is for Jonathan to learn how to control a scene. He owns his character, now I want to see him own blocks of lines and own his rhythm. I want to see him take his time. (You all know I’m talking about the library scene — he can do it so beautifully and I’m excited to see that.)

My favourite Jonathan moment so far undoubtedly was when Scorpius is hiding Delphi from Polly. He stands in the middle of the two stairs and puts one leg out, with his robes swooshed behind it like a curtain, and as Polly moves across the stage he moves his other leg so he’s straddling the gap in the stairs, and he looks like a strange, ridiculous baby bat, with his legs too far apart and his robes spread out behind him like wings.

Anyway, while we’re talking about Scorpius, I said I’d come back to this later, Jamie Ballard. His performance as Jonathan’s Scorpius polyjuiced into Harry was the most flawless thing I’ve ever seen in my life. If he can carry that off like that then he can literally do everything. It was truly exceptional.

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And now, as many things as I can think of to throw at you (who needs sleep?)

Broadway Changes

-I hate the new Harry lines. They’re so unnecessary and awful. They’re pure info dumps. Patronising in fact. I cringed into my hands the whole time (even though Jamie delivered them beautifully).

-Instead of being a projection, the owl that delivers McGonagall’s note about Albus and Scorpius to Harry now is his sort of paper looking puppet bird that flies across the stage on a wire and it’s so beautiful. It was mistimed tonight but I enjoyed the beauty of it so much I didn’t care.

-The new wand dance is weird but cool. The choreography is nice. I don’t feel it tells the story as well as the old one did, but it’s nice to see Albus succeeding at spells for once.

-So many wizzos now oh my god. It’s become a thing.

-Albus’s broken arm effect and the sound that accompanies it is so satisfying, and Joe is the perfect person to be doing it because he moves so well. I adored that.

-The new time-turner noise is weird. Not sure about that one.

-There are probably more, but I’ve forgotten them in the melee of my brain.

Other assorted observations

-There are so many new faces in speaking roles that it really feels like a whole new play, which is very cool and very overwhelming all at once. I’ll work on getting some thoughts about the new ensemble people once I’ve stopped flailing over Jonathan (aka never).

-St Oswald’s is now no more and no less the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. There’s a witch hiding whisky in her purse. David and Martin are having a fight. Martin’s dress has gone which is an absolute travesty, but he’s gone from being delighted by a trouserless man dancing backwards towards him to being disgusted by it, and that juxtaposition was the most delightful thing in the world.

-I loved Annette’s Umbridge so far. She was awesome. Just the right level of giggly girly, and with so much disgust as she was talking about the Potters.

-Adrian as Bane is great. I really enjoyed him. He’s a lot softer than either Nuno or James were this year, which worked nicely. His anger is older and wiser. He’s a lot more reserved, which I enjoyed, and I can’t wait to see more of him.

-A little moth got into the hospital wing scene and at one point it flew near Joe’s mouth and he blew on it to get it away.

-Jamie is bringing the anger and the screaming, which is so lovely. I think he may also be bringing the tears. I’m going to enjoy this one.

-Harry ran away from Albus polyjuiced as Ron. When he walked across the stage as Albus was blocking the door, Albus reached out to him and Harry ran for it. Bless him, he’s got enough trauma in his life without Ron and Hermione snogging in front of him too!

-At the beginning when Ron’s doing the nose trick, James pats him on the back to help get the nose down before Aron farts it out.

-That reminds me, Dylan, our new James, is absolutely fantastic. His James is such an asshole older brother. He’s the James I’ve always imagined. Funny, a bit of a dick, but ultimately will end up being a loving brother. I absolutely adored him.

-Jonathan was very restrained in the lake. No splashing, a gentle rise out of the water. So well behaved.

-Scorpius was watching at the back, very visibly, the whole time Delphi and Albus were interacting at the start of the Expelliarmus scene. It was the first time I’ve seen that stage direction about seeing his friend and liking it but not liking it actually played out. It was a beautiful thing.

-Joe is exceptional at the Expelliarmus. After Theo it’s a huge relief. In fact he’s pretty flawless with all the tricks, pretty much as I expected.

-At the end of the library scene, Albus now holds the Time-Turner bag out to Scorpius when he asks if he’ll come, and Scorpius slowly takes it from him as the dialogue progresses. It’s a great and beautiful solution to the strap of the bag always getting caught on the edge of the desk.

-Am I allowed to talk about James Howard? This year he’s playing a more subdued Draco, very introspective, and a lot more emotional. He’s less physical, very centred, and there’s so much grief and pain in his voice whenever he speaks. All his emotion is internalised and comes out in his voice now. Personally I love it.

-April continues to be incredible as Myrtle, and now she’s got the new boys and Harry to play with she is loving life. A highlight was her reaching out to touch Harry’s face with her foot as he was looking at her (Jamie G always had his back to her when she did that so he never saw her do it). She’s so brazen. Also, she sshhhed Draco when James has always sshhed her (after the bit about Draco and Harry being bad boys again), and when she told Harry he was handsome Ginny came and dragged Harry away, and Myrtle went and sulked.

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I really do have to go to bed, and I think I’m running out of things to remember without opening the book. I’ll come up with more stuff over the next couple of days, and hopefully will be able to write a full recap on Saturday, but this has covered a lot of the memorable stuff.

Let’s start with the Voldemort timeline. I’d been worrying about how Jonathan’s Scorpius could possibly survive that world, but when we joined Act Two Scorpius had already grown so much through his experiences in that world. He was already surviving, already fighting, already blended in. He’d even already found glimpses of the Scorpion King that he could try and reflect in himself. This is a boy who dreams of adventure, is capable of great adventure, but doesn’t know what to do with it, and that’s what we saw at so many points here.

I need to rewatch the office scene to have more thoughts about it, but there were two things that stood out. One, when Draco released Scorpius after slamming him on the desk, Scorpius reeled away across the room clutching his arm, and he kept rubbing at it for most of the rest of the scene. His dad had inadvertently hurt him, which was heartbreaking. Two, when Draco tried to approach Scorpius for ‘there’s more of her in there than I thought’, Scorpius cringed away from him, scared of getting hurt again, unsure of where he stood with his dad.

All of the speeches I was worried about in this section of the play were absolutely perfect. Jonathan delivered them with beautiful rhythm, still as his flaily mess of a Scorpius. It was beautiful, and he did an incredible job. His chemistry with Nicola and Tom in particular was wonderful.

The first broadway change we came to was the removal of ‘the world changes and we change with it’. I actually really loved how this was done. I know some people are very upset about it, but I enjoyed how Scorpius’s ‘I am better off in this world’ came as a slow realisation because of his encounter with the Dementor. It worked so nicely for me. I got it.

Snape now gestures for the doe to go to Scorpius, which is too heartbreaking and lovely.

Those boys splash a lot when they come out of the lake. Wow did people get wet. It’s not a Theo style tidal wave, more all this constant and unashamed movement in the water that sends it everywhere. Scorpius really did look like he was trying to drown Albus.

The scene between Harry and Albus in Albus’s dormitory gave me a beautiful flash of the Albus Joe will be. I saw a lot of potential in this scene and in the very latter part of Act Four, and I’m excited to see that extend throughout the play. He’s a great actor, but he hasn’t become Albus yet. When he becomes Albus you don’t see Joe anymore, and that’s what I want — to not see Joe.

Sitting on the suitcase is dead now, sadly, but Albus sits on the bed which is nice. Also, Jamie B was exceptional in this scene (that’s going to become a theme of this recap, stick with me).

The jump scare has made it across from broadway, lord save us all. The hand comes out of the place where the flowers are laid (same as how the hand comes out of Harry’s back during the Transfiguration), and I actually quite like that premonition. I don’t like the jump scare though. I can deal without that...

Have I mentioned that Jonathan’s Scorpius is the most precious thing? He actually crawled across the floor in the dorm scene and hid at the foot of Albus’s bed before popping up to scare him. Also it was amazing to see him grow and come into his own and be that leader he’s capable of being. That journey is back, and I’m really pleased about it.

I still don’t have thoughts about Delphi and I can’t quite explain why. It’s like my brain has been so busy engaging with other things it keeps erasing her. It’s not because she’s not good — she’s great — it’s just because I haven’t quite had chance to see her yet. I’ve been too busy with other things.

Seeing this Scorpius get tortured was about as painful as I expected it to be. It was horrible. And his reaction to the pain was awful. But you felt he could deal with it. He was doing it for the good of everyone, and even though it was killing him, he was strong enough. I love a strong Scorpius, and Scorpius was strong by this point.

I need more elsewhere in the torture scene. Act three was a bit deflating, especially in this sequence. I didn’t necessarily get from it what I wanted, not in terms of me expecting a particular portrayal, but more in terms of any portrayal. The scenes didn’t hit me, they frustrated me, but these are the scenes that grow most over a year, and I’ve seen enough elsewhere that I think we’ll be okay.

One thing I loved (not sure if this is from Broadway), was Albus repeating ‘your dad loves you’ when Cedric says ‘what?’ It was perfect. Also, there is nothing that Dylan (the Jameses and Cedric) did onstage that I didn’t love.

Josh alone cannot rearrange the maze. He had a damn good go and it almost worked. Almost.

The worst change in the world are the new lines in the final scene. Thankfully I almost didn’t notice them because I was playing with the black light (has anyone ever actually watched that scene? I know I haven’t), but unfortunately now I know they’re there I’m always going to notice them. They’re a travesty.

So that’s a whistle stop tour of Act three, which left me feeling a bit drained (in sharp comparison to last year’s act three — that was never not cast two’s best act). I know it’ll grow and change, and I hope I appreciate it more next time now I’m used to seeing combinations of people and have seen the journey play out once. It’s a wonderful, wild act, and it’s so very important to me. I need to be able to enjoy it, and I know that will come. So much of it is already there (have I mentioned yet that I love Jonathan and Jamie? Because I do).

On to what no one is willing to say was quite possibly the best act four any of us had ever witnessed. I’m not lying. It was that good.

Before we start, I’d like to get off my chest that I would sell my soul if Susie’s Ginny asked me to. More on that later. First, the boys and Godric’s Hollow.

Seeing Jonathan’s Scorpius interact with Martin’s station master brought so much joy and delight to my soul. The poor boy did not know where to start with that accent, to the point that the station master gave up on him and decided Albus looked a bit more normal and competent. So sweet.

In the pumpkin transition Josh gave him pumpkin a pat on the head, and now Danny exits the other way and this time holds hands with his partner. It was a sweet little change, and such a nice touch.

The first Godric’s Hollow scene always feels so short that I’m never quite sure what to say about it these days. One note, Jonathan says ‘geekiness’ not ‘geekness’ but boy did he quiver. Also, I could watch that little nerd get excited about historical figures all day. Can we have five hours of that next?

I think I have more to say about the main Godric’s Hollow section, so I’ll stop rambling about this and talk about that in a minute. After I talk about Jamie Ballard.

I have known for sure for a long time that people (still not entirely sure who) from the play read (in the present or past tense, again not sure) my recaps, and that’s partly why I haven’t written them for a while. The other reason is that I find it more difficult to be completely honest with that scrutiny, and I don’t think there’s any point writing these things if I’m not honest. I’m not a critic, I’m a fan, and I rarely find things I dislike, but when I do I want to be able to say so. I say all this because I’m going to be entirely honest now.

Jamie Glover was never my Harry. I adored his portrayal, and found it fascinating. I fell in love with him show by show for a whole year. But he never really gave me all the things I wanted from Harry. So when Jamie Ballard did this office scene tonight I almost cried because my Harry is back. After all the time, he’s here, he’s a mess, he cries and shouts, and I love everything about him.

I knew going in that I would love Jamie in this scene, and I did. He was everything I’ve been wanting and needing for so long, and we are lucky to have this incredible actor with us for a year (is it too early to start trying to convince him to stay for cast four?)

There were tears dripping down his face and it was just like old times. Just like old times with a very new James Howard adding himself to the mix halfway through.

The introspective, emotional Draco came out tonight in full force. And introspect Draco brought with him a new version of a line that has slowly been getting more and more annoying over the year. ‘She wanted me to have someone when she left’ is no longer said with a contrived rise in the voice to mimic tears, it’s now direct and purposeful, just as Draco should say it, and just as he delivered the rest of the scene. The emotion here for Draco is all with a purpose. He said almost all the lines directly to Harry, in an attempt to convince him. There’s a reason for revealing so much. It’s helping Draco out, and helping Scorpius out, and aside from Draco’s genuine grief, it is a teeny bit manipulative in the best possible way. Maybe this is Draco’s Slytherin side.

Godric’s Hollow Part Two. Here I really started to get Albus. There’s the humour that comes out in this scene, and it suits Joe’s Albus (and it suits Joe, and Jonathan too). There was a lot of fun there, although not as wild as it could have been. Jonathan was surprisingly restrained in parts.

My favourite moment of this scene, which is often my favourite moment, is when Albus watches Lily leaving the house and then finds himself standing directly in her path. In that moment I saw none of Joe, only Albus, and it was lovely. That interaction between the two means so much to me; the fact that Albus is the only one of Harry’s children to meet their grandparents gives him and Harry a special connection, and I think both he and Harry know that. So it is a beautiful thing, and Joe did it in the most satisfying and lovely way.

Can I move on to Susie now? I need to move on to Susie, because my Ginny is back too! I never gelled with Emma’s Ginny, and seeing Susie has made me so unspeakably happy. In the scene between Harry and Ginny she was perfectly supportive, and the moments between them. Oh the beautiful moments between them. Ginny putting her hand on Harry’s heart and him holding her hand in both of his. Her touching his face. She was exceptional. Also, she didn’t do the one thing that’s been irritating me for months now — she held the blanket the right way round from the start, as if she was reading it. For the last year the blanket has initially been held with the text facing the audience, and I mean really, how do you expect to read it if it’s the wrong way round? Insert heavy eye roll here.

Anyway, this cast’s Harry and Ginny are absolutely everything. They’re a pure delight. I am very happy.

I forgot to mention, there’s a really weird door configuration in the latter stages of Godric’s Hollow now, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. The two doors at either end stay where they were. The two next to them have been turned on a diagonal to the audience, but turned in the same direction, which is weird. The middle door is moved slightly forward. It’s not a big thing, just strange and different.

Another different but not at all strange thing was Draco running to Scorpius for the Malfoy hug. It was the most delightful thing, and that hug got the hugest aawww from the audience (I think everything Scorpius does for the next year is going to get an aww to be honest).

I could have paid more attention to the beginning of the Harry and Ginny scene in Godric’s Hollow, but I was too busy panicking about the presence of wires attached to the bench. Yes people, the bench is back, save us. Anyway, once I stopped freaking out about the bench this was a stunning scene. Harry and Ginny are perfect. I don’t know what else to say about them really. The flirtation is back, and the connection, and the love. Also the tears. It’s wonderful.

Scorpius was so happy to be compared to Hermione when Ron said ‘blimey, there’s two of them’, because of course he was. Albus ran right to the front of the stage when he was trying to volunteer, with his hand up. ‘There’s plenty you’re good at Albus’ was perfect right from square one. What can I say?

The transformation was amazing and harrowing. At first I thought they’d changed it, because Jamie started facing the audience, but when he fell he fell into the correct position, so it’s all the same as it was before. The whole way through he was doing the most horrendous things with his face. It looked like he was melting, or like he was about to throw up, or something, and when he moved his hand up into the ‘ready’ position he brushed it up his throat so it looked like a hand was emerging from his mouth. Truly gruesome and wonderful.

What was not wonderful were the strobe lights. I don’t know how much anyone knows about my love for the lighting in this play (lighting in general), but it’s incredibly special to me. There is love and care and detail in it. And those strobe lights, which flashed as Voldemort was emerging from Harry’s body, did not feel like they were put in with love and care. They were gimmicky, unnecessary, and made me more than a little bit angry. It feels so wrong to just slap something like that in. It goes against everything I love about the lighting in this play.

On a more positive note, the interaction with the Malfoys by the door while Ginny and Albus are talking was everything. Scorpius panicking so much about putting his hand on his dad’s. It took him so long to decide to do it, but when he did he looked so delighted. He also turned round to grin at his dad too. The big, toothy grin he specialises in. Then he went and interrupted Joe and Susie’s scene, by jumping in too early with his cue. But we’ll let him off. How can you concentrate on anyone else when you’re having a beautiful interaction with your dad?

I mentioned that the bench drop is back and it’s very very back. I hid behind my hands. I’ve always been terrified of that trick. I’ve seen it go wrong and been scarred for life. I hate it. It’s a great trick and it’s necessary for the rhythm of the battle, but I hate having to watch it.

At the end of the battle Albus ran over to Scorpius and they hugged each other as hard as they possibly could. It was beautiful.

And then there was the death scene which was the beginning of me being destroyed. The first thing was Joe’s tear. Then there were all Jamie’s many tears. Then there were the Malfoys clinging to each other (Scorpius buried his face in his dad’s chest by the time James died, although he did lift it to watch Lily). And then. And then. Harry usually holds his wand for the whole of this bit, but today, after James was killed, he handed it across to Albus, who held it for the rest of the scene. It was such a beautiful, subtle touch of trust and respect between them, and the idea of Harry thinking ‘I don’t trust myself now, I’m going to give my wand to Albus’ was astonishing.

At the end of this scene, when Harry collapsed, I think he was begging for his mum and dad in amongst all the screams and tears of pain and grief. Stunning stuff. That whole scene was exceptional from everyone involved (in fact everything from here on out was).

In Hagrid’s farewell he now makes more of the blanket. He starts to walk out with it, then he turns back and unfolds it, then he refolds it into the exact way it’s folded when Harry first brings it to Albus. The first of two beautiful full circle moments to end the show.

In the penultimate scene, Albus gave Scorpius a shove to make him get closer to Rose (the awkward nerd almost fell down the stairs). Then the hug went on for so long, and Scorpius definitely wasn’t supporting himself for most of it. It looked like he wanted to keep hugging, hesitating and reaching out then pulling his hands back, before he finally decided to let Albus go. When he walked off he didn’t twirl, which I’m grateful for, but he turned back and waved. A perfect final moment. If he’s still doing that in a year’s time it will break everyone’s hearts.

A new bit of lighting that I absolutely adored was the full circle shine of the clock. At the beginning of the play, even before it begins, white light shines through the clock and illuminates the stage. And now gold light shines through the clock as Albus prepares to meet his dad. It’s absolutely stunning, and beautiful, and although it doesn’t 100% work with the other lighting in the scene, I’m happy to let it go just for the immense, painful, beautiful feels.

And then that final scene. Wow was that a final scene. Joe came into his own as Albus, and Jamie B was Jamie B. It was funny, and light, and uplifting. So many jokes passed between the two of them. It felt like Harry and Albus had really and truly progressed since we’d last seen them, something I’ve truly never seen before in any other interpretation. There was a level of comfort there. Some awkwardness but not much.

Highlights included Harry talking about Albus’s heart and Albus pulling a face and zipping up his hoodie to hide his chest (in an awkward teenage boy trying not to show his delight sort of way). Then there was Harry doing a pigeon impression when Albus said about going into pigeon racing. And Harry’s fears, for the first time ever, really did feel like these light things rather than deep pain that he was revealing to his son, which wasn’t in any way a problem. It was very well done. And there was Albus inspecting Snape’s grave very closely. Then a changed line, about Cedric being a Healer, not an Auror. And finally that hug. There was no little arm round each other there. They threw themselves into that hug with reckless abandon, and Harry was holding Albus’s head, and it has never been so clear that everything is healed and they’re okay. It was the loveliest thing in the world, and simply so uplifting. The perfect end to an astonishing first show. I was on my feet before the lights came up for the curtain call, and I forgot I was supposed to stop clapping when it was over. I’ve never cheered so loud for a cast before. That was something special.