POTTED POTTER – The Unauthorized Harry Experience – A Parody by Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner (writers and creators). Canberra Theatre Centre July 13 – 18, 2021.
Director – Richard Hurst; Designer – Simon Scullion; Lighting Designer – Tim Mascall; Composer – Phil Innes
Performed by Adam Brown (Harry) and Tama Jarman (Everybody Else)
Reviewed by Frank McKone
July 13
Fortunately,
I have not read the seven volumes of Harry Potter, and now – after an
hour’s entertaining clowning – I will never need to. As they
demonstrated, the character of Harry Potter is essentially boring, and
the only relationship of any real interest – between Hermione Granger
and the red-haired guy Ron Weasley – gets a passing mention right at the
end.
What horrified me most was how much I recognised. What is
it about ludicrous pretend mediaeval witchcraft fantasy that, in the
modern rational world, can become an essential element in our
consciousness? The value of this absurdist parody is that at least the
young aficionados in the audience thoroughly enjoyed laughing at it.
Potty Potter, I call it.
Even more ironically absurd is how the
show was born as a promotion of J K Rowland’s sixth volume in the series
way back in 2005. www.pottedpotter.com.au/ explains: Dan
and Jeff are asked to create a five-minute street show recapping the
plot of the first five Potter books, for performance to queues of fans
waiting for the midnight release of the sixth book. At least it
means that the quality of British humour is not lost, and has even been
touring the world, beginning very sensibly with Australia and New
Zealand, since 2009. These are facts of which I was previously
completely oblivious.
When you look at sites like https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Hortense_Rowland
perhaps it’s best to say that the Harry Potter phenomenon is a
diversion away from reality for its fans, while money-making for its
creators. The social structure of J K Rowland’s fantasy is,
unfortunately, entirely predictably conservative politically – so there
is little of artistic value in her work, which is why it is so easy to
parody.
There is one element of Potted Potter of
educational value. Most of the comedy is made out of the interplay
between the actors out of their Potter characters, creating a story of
their relationship. Adam is played as the bookish type, seriously
concerned with doing things properly (and therefore plays Harry); while
Tama is just interested in having fun, and breaks all the rules. This
is what makes the show enjoyable – nothing really to do with Rowland’s
books. The show works because it breaks the conventions of theatre as
the actors jump in and out of their Potter roles and their roles of
being actors: talking, for one example, about their training in theatre
school in New Zealand; and supporting more pay for teachers, at one
point (achieving real approval from the audience).
So, now I’ve dragged you out of the fantasy, forget the world around you for an hour – and enjoy!
© Frank McKone, Canberra
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