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That’s what JK Rowling, the woman most likely to know about these things, announced on Twitter last night, with reference to her hotly-anticipated stage 'Harry Potter' adventure, 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child', coming to the Palace Theatre next summer.
*Clears throat loudly and bangs teaspoon on mug of tea* I have #CursedChild news!
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 24, 2015
Due to the epic nature of the story we’ve been working on, Harry Potter & the #CursedChild will be in two parts! @HPPlayLDN
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 24, 2015
But never fear, it’s not going to be a split-‘The Deathly Hallows’-into-two-movies-and-make-the-public-wait-a-whole-bloody-year-in-between shebang – it’s basically going to be the same deal as the RSC’s ‘Wolf Hall’/’Bring Up the Bodies’ (or how Shakespeare's 'Henry IV' is usually performed), wherein the two plays show in rep, alternating in the week and both shown at weekends.
Cynics might point to the fact that this is almost certainly likely to extract double the money from Potter fanatics, who are unlikely to want to see one part but not the other. But actually, given even a single play would almost certainly sell out for years on end purely on the Potter name, Rowling and her creative team have basically created a massive logistical headache for themselves in the name of better serving her 'epic' story.
Potter nuts will surely be delighted that JKR’s penchant for the epic remains fully intact; the only lingering worry is whether there will be robust processes to allow fans snagging tickets for one show to definitely see the other (but also conversely whether this effectively halves the number of people getting to see the show, given almost nobody will want to see just one part). Whatever: it’s a nice problem to have, and ultimately the more Potter, the better.
Find out more about 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' and read an interview with 'Cursed Child' director John Tiffany and co-writer Jack Thorne on the newly-relaunched official Pottermore website explaining more of the rationale for splitting the story.