WOS goes Potty with Post-show Quidditch Training
Sunday (21 August) saw 80 Whatsonstage.com theatregoers make their way to the Garrick Theatre for an afternoon of big laughs, bad wigs and even a golden snitch in 70 minutes of Harry Potter parody from CBBC’s Dan and Jeff in their show, Potted Potter which manages to cover all seven books in just over an hour!
From its beginnings at the Edinburgh Festival five years ago Potted Potter now plays to 750 strong audiences at the Festival and comes to London every year as well so that we don’t miss out on any of the fun! Many of the theatregoers I spoke to on Sunday have seen this show from the beginning and still love to come along every year, while many of the children in the audience, who laughed just as much as the adults, may well remember this as the show that got them going to the theatre.
Dan and Jeff have what seems like limitless energy and their rapport on the stage is an absolute delight, you know they are having just as much fun as you are (if not more). Having read the Potter series it’s difficult to know whether a Potter-virgin (if such a thing exists) would have any idea what was going on but even if you didn’t get every joke there are enough gags to have you laughing without the plot getting too much in the way. Their handling of the third book (as a deconstruction of the Rowling method) was a favourite of mine but the use of a small number of puppets, wigs and props in ingenious ways ensures that the pace never slackens and you are constantly surprised.
Following the show we were lucky enough to be involved in the post-show Quidditch training camp which Dan admitted had somewhat hastily been created that very morning. You wouldn’t have thought it with each team being given it’s own battle cry, a warm up exercise that had beach balls flying everywhere and the final great game which saw the audience divided in two trying to get a beach ball through their team goal post (a hoola hoop hanging from the dress circle). It sounds easy but it’s not and it took four balls in play before a point was scored to a very jubilant team Snuffle (Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw combined).
It was certainly something different for a Whatsonstage.com Outing but well worth the trip and I hope that everyone who stayed for the post-show had as much fun playing as I did trying to capture it on camera!
Please do feel free to email your comments and thoughts about the play, or the quidditch training, as well as any photos you have of the event through to feedback@whatsonstage.com, we love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us for this event, and do check the homepage to keep up to date on all of our upcoming Outings.
Laura Norman
Club Manager
