Theatre review: Potted Potter

Everyman, Cork

You don’t have to be a Harry Potter nerd to appreciate this speedy slapstick parody of JK Rowling’s seven-book series on the boy wizard, Harry Potter, of Hogwarts School. This unauthorised take on the best-selling phenomenon is just 70 minutes long and is packed with fun and audience participation.

The premise of the show, written by Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner, is that James, an expert on Harry, and his sidekick, Ben, a bluffer, are going to gallop through the works. They are unfazed by the fact that the Harry Potter books contain some 300 characters. James gets to play Harry while Ben has to muggle through by playing an assortment of characters using wigs and head gear such as horns.

James is disappointed that Ben spent all of the money for the show on the dragon, which appears in book four. The budget was supposed to go towards hiring actors. But Ben is a law unto himself. He’s also confused, mixing up the Harry Potter story with The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings. What ensues is mayhem and madness, that includes the audience being squirted with water; a ball game, Quidditch, being played, with the audience divided into two teams, headed by two youngsters who oblige by going on stage.

What is striking about this show is that despite its low budget, it successfully conjures up the world of Harry. As well as being a battle between good and evil, this is very much a comedy, with plenty of in-jokes that made the youthful audience holler with laughter.

The set is initially covered with dusty old sheets which, when whipped off, reveal a coffin, a wardrobe and the forbidden forest which is a source of mirth. Two teenage girls told this reviewer that the Harry Potter books are actually very serious (JK Rowling has described them as being about death). At the end of the show, the teenagers deemed it a hilarious success.

Runs until Saturday.