Cursed Child, reaction post in short (spoilers in the cut only)

[azriona]

I finally got my hands on a copy of Cursed Child this weekend... and proceeded to read it in about 6 hours. On the whole, I enjoyed reading it, mostly because I enjoyed figuring out how I'd do the staging and the magical bits as I read them. (So many quick scene changes! So many quick costume changes! Characters exiting on one side of the stage and

Comments

[belleweather]

So I saw it before I read it, which mean my experience of reading it is totally different from anyone but the like, 1500 people who were able to see the play before the book came out. I feel very fandom-lonely about that.

Cutting the rest for spoilers, just in case...

[Spoiler (click to open)]I would NOT say that you could cut the whole Albus and Scorpius becoming friends bit from the play, at all. That's basically the first half of the first show, and there is a lot of establishing character things that are going on there that I didn't think came across as well in the show -- not only establishing Albus and his place in the world, but the relationships between the kids and the adults -- as well as dramaturgically establishing how things move on stage and how magic works. It did not drag AT ALL in the theater. It felt like it went by in a flash

[azriona]

I have no doubt that seeing the play is a vastly different experience than simply reading it - hey, I'm a theatre person, I worked in theatre for 10 years. I totally get that you're not actually supposed to READ Shakespeare, you're supposed to ACT it. And yeah, I suspect watching those first four years play out on stage is vastly different from reading them. Actually, I really liked reading them, I liked trying to figure out how they were done on stage, I liked the little glimpses into the lives of the characters and establishing Scorpius and Albus and James and Rose. It was a fun read, I suspect it would be a fun watch

[belleweather]

I would love that. I am always, always up for London. :)

And also, are you still in no-assignment purgatory?! I am so, so sorry. I can't imagine how much that sucks. How are you and the little guys doing with that? How is Andrew doing with that?

[thistle_chaser]

While I read the books and was big into the fandom for a long time, I really don't feel driven to read Cursed Child, so I read your spoilers.

WAS IT TRULY NECESSARY TO SEND THE CHARACTERS ON A TWO HOUR JOURNEY TO FIGURE THAT OUT, THERE'S ABOUT FIVE THOUSAND FANFICS THAT ALREADY DISCUSS THAT VERY WHAT-IF. GO PERUSE FICTION ALLEY SOMETIME, JO.

That gave me a laugh. That's always been my issue with HP (and other long-running canons that have an active fandom) -- fandom/fanfics often handle things better and have long since hashed out stuff that later canon books/episodes struggle with. I lose patience for the canon, because so many fanfics have handled the same issues much better.

[azriona]

Yeah, I'm not super-involved in the fandom anymore, but I did want to see what Jo had in mind for the characters. I do like that she gives Harry and Ginny their ups and downs as parents, instead of the picture-perfect happy ending. But honestly, the story is just... weak, silly, and needlessly complicated. (If one can say all three of those things about the same story.)