Potted Potter

Watching a Harry Potter movie in a comfortable seat at a multiplex cinema has caused me to drift off into slumber on occasions.

So, I was a little alarmed that the performers in Potted Potter began their show by warning the audience not to expect to see anything as exciting as they have experienced at the movies.

Initially it felt like a fringe show booked into a ‘fancy theatre’ by accident.

The couple sitting next to me lost patience and disappeared from their seats, as though a wand had passed over them, after just 20 minutes.

But the Harry Potter tragics were having a ball...laughing at so many jokes which sailed over my head.

Many came armed with broomsticks for the occasion.

Then the performers Jess Briton and Gray Trainor began to use some of those ‘fancy theatre’ devices and it became a show even Harry Potter sceptics could enjoy.

There was no need to dampen expectations.

Most amusing was a game of Quidditch.

There was no flying....but in the style of Slava’s Snowshow, there was audience participation on a grand scale.

It was one of many moments of farce and friviolity – all done with great affection for the seven novel saga.

David Spicer

Earlier coverage - more details