If it doesn't at least tour the UK, Rowling being from Scotland it better goddamn come here, I'll be surprised. Relatively cheap tickets by West End standards.

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/theatre/scots-director-john-tiffany-reveals-5976751

I guess it depends on how successful it is, (and it seems probable since Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Sets West End Record for Advance Sale) but the director says at the end of the article that he does want to tour Scotland. Also, it seems like the director is ruling out any Hollywood celebrities, so focusing on white British male actors around 40-50s with stage experience...Hugh Dancy, Bertie Carvel, Samuel West, Rory Kinnear, Johnny Lee Miller, Luke Treadaway, Rupert Everett, Rafe Spall...or someone more obscure. I thought Carvel was great as Jonathan Strange so maybe he'll reprise a magician's role?

Actually, can we get a Hamilton-twist on this play?

 

Tiffany is a phenomenal director. It won't be lacking in terms of direction. If he has a decent amount of casting control (which I think he will) then the only possible thing that could let this down is the writing.

I'd like to see Miller as the main. He's got an excellent stage presence although he'd obviously need to wear a hairpiece...unless they make it a joke that Auror duties has made Harry bald.

 

I have a hard time understanding how anything even remotely related to magic can work best shown live on stage, seeing as how play-actors can't cast magic, but what do I know, I hope they have a big budget for pyrotechnics.

 

So they announced the cast.
http://www.hypable.com/harry-potter-cursed-child-actors-announced/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...r-highly-anticipated-stage-play-revealed.html

Bold.

 

Why is Hermione now black?

Is this some kind of hoax/prank?

 

Because:
1. She was the best actress that auditioned.
2. Political correctness gone mad!
3. Barring unforeseen developments in the play itself, her skin colour makes very little if any difference to her as a character.
4. Accident with a spell that hasn't/can't be reversed.

Pick the answer you like best.

More on topic, she's the only one I vaguely recognise - think she's been in a couple of Doctor Who episodes I've watched this weekend. Can't really comment on their ability, but they look convincing enough I suppose.

 

I assume Dumezweni just nails Hermione so fucking hard the theater's foundations shake in awe of her performance.

Or perhaps it's a show of edginess/equality in a rather blatant attempt to make people notice the upcoming play. Whatever.

In other news, I'm really digging Thornley as Ron.

 

I'm with Rep, it's whatever. Doubt I'll even watch this on any form. Still, they better give her a big mane of bushy hair and dye the hair of Ron's actor.

 

With black Hermione I guess @ihateseatbelts was right all along.

 

Hah, the reaction of fans who hated the idea of black Hermione gives me great pleasure. I'm not a big fan of this whole play idea in general, and doubt I'll see it, but the nerdrage feeds me. Also, good on JKR for actually following through after expressing an interest in the subject.

 

Woke up to this and lol'd at the butthurt.

It's not that outrageous; theatre often takes liberties with this sort of thing with no fucks given. Noma's a wicked actress too, so there's that. I'm more interested in whether they're dyeing Paul Thornley's hair or not.

 

This is great. I love what is happening.

I was just running out of salt, too. Good thing the people on the internet can send me some now.

 

I want to know why they went with a black actress. If there's a reason, who cares.

 

I imagine because she's a good actress. It's not like it's canon - just like the way the actors looked in the movies wasn't canon.

I mean, just think of the opposite for a moment - passing over a good actress because she was black. That would have been pretty shitty.

 

But at the same time, the characters in the movies were all played by British actors and actresses because it was a British novel.

 

This tweet from JKR is fantastic.

 

If she was never intended to be white, then why was Emma Watson cast as the character?

Didn't Rowling have the final say on the castings in the first place?

It just feels like a cheap way to get some publicity for the play.

 

Hermione never was explicitly identified as white, but she was the character that JKR identified with the most. Could be that nothing was meant by the casting, or that JKR wanted to say that Hermione could just as easily have been black and nothing would have changed. With the scale of reactions, I doubt any of the parties involved will be inclined to share their reasoning, if there was any.

 

I honestly wouldn't care if Hermione was originally described as black in the books.

I suppose, as much I dislike the fanboying about film!Hermione it most likely cemented the thought, that I've simply never contemplated the idea that she could be black. Since it's been more than a few years since I read any of the books, other than to look for some specific passages, I have to ask: were any of the other characters (Dean, Lee and the rest), that we know to be black/non-white, ever explicitly described as such? I vaguely remember some mention about Blaise Zabini and his olive skin, but that might be some fanfiction description just stuck in my head.