Jack Thorne’s baby son was a key influence on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. So it was a big day when he was old enough to see it with the playwright for the first time
A few weeks ago I took my eight-year-old, Elliott, to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. It was the second play of mine Elliott has seen, after my adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Now, before I’m accused of being an egotist who only takes his kid to see his own stuff, I do want to say we’ve been to shows by other writers, many of which he’s preferred. It’s just that – for two different reasons – I wanted him to see both of these.
We went to A Christmas Carol when he was five. Spoiler alert for those who haven’t seen it, but there is a point when it snows inside the theatre and I thought he’d find this wondrous. What I hadn’t quite taken into account is that before that there is quite a lot of talking going on. It’s funny and moving – please come and see it – but quite a lot for a five-year-old to take in. He pulled on my arm, a few minutes before the interval, asking: “When will this be over?”
