Father and Son: Jamie Parker and Sam Clemmett in New Interview!
As the world starts to (slowly) be introduced to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, we are also starting to be introduced to the team that is bringing this story to life. A new interview with Jamie Parker, who portrays Harry Potter, and Sam Clemmett, who plays Albus Potter, gives a look at what it is like to bring these iconic characters to the stage.
The weight of such a task is obvious. When asked who Harry Potter is at the point of the play, Parker answered,
I’m going to have to have an answer, and I haven’t got one yet.
Though he later found one:
Harry is formerly a very, very famous teenage boy who’s been known alternatively as [t]he Chosen One and [t]he Boy Who Lived, this overtly messianic figure. But he’s never claimed or pretended to be a hero. He never coveted the extraordinary circumstances he was born into; he’s just an ordinary guy who’s tried to do the best he can.
Having had this extraordinary rite of passage so early in life, picking up the story 20 years later, a lot of his chickens are going to come home to roost – as I think a lot of people find in their forties. When the next generation come along and [Harry, Ron, and Hermione are] parents themselves, they have to reckon their internal accounts with the relationships they’ve built.
Though he doesn’t have quite the responsibility of portraying such a beloved character, Clemmett has also been building his character to fit in Rowling’s magical world. Discussing the process behind making Albus Potter come to life, he said,
Me and Anthony [Boyle]… created the backstories of both Albus and Scorpius. We would pick a particular event that would have happened between birth and the present day, thinking what that event might be, adding flesh to those bones, and it was a really exciting journey for us. It’s been lovely in that respect, to have a blank canvas.
Both Parker and Clemmett noted that J.K. Rowling has given a large amount of freedom to the creative team in the production, saying that she has generously shared this world with them and expressing gratitude for that.
However, neither of the actors is going to give away the secrets; in fact, Parker commented on the importance of audiences keeping those secrets for the enjoyment of those who haven’t had the chance to indulge in the story yet:
I will take to my grave with me the atmosphere of the first ‘Cursed Child’ preview because no one knew anything. Only very rarely have I been able to deploy the phrase ‘audible gasps’. And it wasn’t through spectacle; it was simply through the deployment of information. Obviously that is going to settle a little as the information does get out there, but the joy of discovery and the joy of following these lives further is what’s at the heart of it.
Although they can’t reveal the secrets yet, it is clear that Parker and Clemmett have done a fantastic job in bringing beloved (and soon to be beloved) characters to life!
Have you seen Cursed Child yet? What did you think of Parker and Clemmett’s performances? Let us know in the comments!
