'Today is a very special day for two reasons.' Said JK Rowling on Twitter this morning. 'Firstly, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published in the UK 18 years ago. I'm also very excited to confirm today that a new play called Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will be opening in London next year.'
DEEP BREATH POTTER FANS (non-Potter fans can jump right off the Hogwarts Express here, this story's not for you), this is only like, the biggest news from Potter-land since like, the end of the last book. I mean, wow. Just wow, what a time to be alive. More Harry Potter action, and it's going to be on the stage.
So, what else do we know about the play?
It's not a musical!
Which is great news because even though the rest of the world seems to really dig Frozen and stuff, anything that's got singing people with big shiny smiles on their eminently punchable faces in is enough to make me want to die a little inside. Musicals are The Worst. Except for Les Mis, because they're all more fucking miserable than me anyways.
She's writing it with a guy called Jack Thorne
Who has written for Skins and This Is England, so we're in good hands there. On a completely self-indulgent side note I once saw Jack do a speech at a screening and he seemed very nice so that's another plus. Also it's being directed by a chap called John Tiffany who has been directing the stage adaption of Let The Right One In. ALSO, it's being produced by Sonia Friedman who, no joke, has produced pretty much every single play that's ever been on ever. No really, look at her resume. No matter what I do in my life I will never achieve anything close to the same awesomeness as her. Basically chaps, we're in good hands.
It's not a prequel
Which throws up all sorts of questions. I take that to mean that the cursed child isn't Harry himself. So, does that mean it's going to be set in the future? Like where the last book left off? Does that mean one of Harry's children has been cursed too? Because that seems *very *unlucky; two cursings in the same family? That's just greedy. Maybe the 'cursed child' is some weird offshoot/child of Voldemort that Harry's kid has to battle at Hogwarts. Either way, we're going to need to find out some more information very soon.
It HAS to be a play
'To answer one inevitable (and reasonable!) question - why isn't #CursedChild a new novel? - I am confident that when audiences see the play they will agree that it was the only proper medium for the story.' JK added to her Twitter monologue this morning. This basically means one thing (in my teeny tiny mind that's currently working at a million miles an hour); that it's going to involve a whole bunch of special effects that are fucking amazing and need to be seen to be believed. Trust us on this; there's going to be a lot more to this production than a couple of broomsticks suspended from the ceiling by fishing wire.
Tickets are on sale this autumn
And it's going to be at The Palace Theatre which, no joke guys, is like three minutes walk from The Debrief offices. So, if you want to go and start camping now for tickets, I'll come down and bring you coffee and wines and blankets and when it gets cold you can come and sleep under our desks. As long as you get a ticket for me too OK?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.