Official Artwork for “Cursed Child” Released: What it Tells Us

Earlier this afternoon, J.K. Rowling and Pottermore released the official artwork for the Harry Potter play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, via Twitter. Besides design and art for the sake of art, the new promotional artwork of the play (which will likely be used for play bills, posters, advertisements, etc.) reveals some details about the play.

Pottermore’s press release post clarified what it meant to have a play in two parts (more than just two acts, like to sequential plays). It appears that both plays are going to hit the London stage at the same time, in the same season–unlike movie sequels that are released year(s) apart. Pottermore says the plays are to be seen within the same day, or on two consecutive evenings. It is still unclear how tickets and pricing will be managed. Pottermore reports:

J.K. Rowling revealed last month that: ‘Due to the epic nature of the story we’ve been working on, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will be in two parts!’ The play is designed to be seen either on a single day or on consecutive evenings.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child comes to London’s West End summer 2016. There’s still time to register for priority booking at HarryPotterthePlay.com to have the first opportunity to purchase tickets before they go on general sale. Priority registration closes Saturday 24 October at 11.45pm BST.

 

Yes, it is aesthetically pleasing–as with all things Potter, it is done well. But what does this tell us about the play? It doesn’t directly say a whole lot, but it implies what the mysterious plot and story may be.

The focal point of the image shows a young boy hugging his legs. He appears trapped like a bird inside a snitch-shaped nest. If one were to assume that this young boy is a preteen Harry, based off the title “Harr Potter and…,” the image almost solidifies the assumption that the play is written about Harry in his torturous childhood years at the Dursley’s between Chapters 1 and 2 of Philosopher’s Stone.

J.K. Rowling was right, it is not a prequel as it takes place within the time line of Harry’s story presented in the Harry Potter series. It fills in the time jump between “The Boy Who Lived” and “The Vanishing Glass,” in which we get a glimpse of what Harry’s life is like right before he turns 11. One can assume that we will see an expansion of the story that “The Vanishing Glass” offers–giving us Harry’s years at boarding school, living under the stairs, being told how his “worthless” parents died in a “car accident,” and being punished by the Dursleys for accidentally doing magic he cannot explain.

Or we could be totally wrong. However, this plot point was the original idea behind a Harry Potter play–before we knew the title, before we knew who was working on it with J.K. Rowling, before we knew the dates, and before we even knew if it was actually going to happen. It could have been like the Harry Potter encyclopedia, also known as “The Scottish Book,” a very real idea that turned into something entirely different (Pottermore) and didn’t come to fruition.

But here is why it is highly unlikely that we are wrong (there is still a possibility, though). We reported on the original projected story line of the play in December 2013, when J.K. Rowling first announced that it was real. At that time, J.K. Rowling herself said what the play was going to be about:

It will be based on Harry’s “early years as an orphan an outcast…featuring some of our favourite characters from the Harry Potter books, this new work will offer a unique insight into the heart and mind of the now legendary young wizard. A seemingly ordinary boy, but one for whom Destiny has plans…”

Since then, why has there been so much questioning about the plays story? About it being a sequel? We don’t know, maybe we all got amnesia.