Potted Potter.
The Unauthorized Harry Potter Experience. – A Parody by Dan and Jeff.
Written and created by Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner.Director and additional material. Richard Hurst. Associate directors. Hanna Berrigan. Daniel Clarkson. Ja,es Farrell. Set design. Simon Scullion. Lighting designTim Mascall. Video design. Tom Hillebrand. Music Phil Innes. Production re-lighter. Liam Cleary. Production Manager. Sean Ford. Company Stage Manager. Christine Collins. UK General Management. Seabright Productions, Ltd. Lunchbox Theatrical Productions.Canberra Theatre. Canberra Theatre Centre. April 4 to April 7 2019. Bookings: www.canberratheatrecentre. Or 62752700.
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
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| James Percy and Joseph Maudsley in POTTED POTTER |
At one stage during
LunchboxTheatrical Productions’
hysterically hilarious parody of JK Rowlings’
Harry Potter books, fall guy , Joe hurls the ultimate insult at straight
man, James: “Purist!!” There is nothing
purist about Potted Potter. Actors
James Percy and Joseph Maudsley launch into a madcap attempt to present all
seven books in just seventy minutes of zany gags, ridiculous, bumbling business
and a live game of Quidditch with a delighted audience of Harry Potter fans.
You know straight away that this will be no reverential re-enactment of
Rowlings’s brilliant flights of fanciful imagination when Joe whips off the
cover, revealing an island scene and a palm tree by clear blue water and under
an azure blue sky. “What’s that? James asks.” The Forbidden Forest.”, Joe
replies, pointing to the writing on the painting. “That’s not the Forbidden
Forest!” replies james. “It should be dark, and where are the wild animals that
live in the woods? “There” Joe says, pointing to a crab on the sand. And that’s
just the start of this madcap romp through all seven books from The
Philosopher’s Stone to The Deathly Hollows.
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James Percy as Harry Potter and
Joseph Maudsley as Voldemort
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Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner’s unauthorized Harry Potter Experience is a
gift for the talents of Maudsley and Percy.
In the long line of comedy duos, Maudsley is Costello to Percy’s Abbot
and Hardy to Percy’s Laurel. They are Martin and Lewis and Morecombe and Wise. Percy plays the long
suffering straight guy, introducing the books and then standing back while
Maudsley hurls a train wreck through the events. Instead of hiring the finest
actors in the land like Dame Judi Dench to play the various characters and
going all out to acquire an automaton Evil Serpent and a proper set for
Hogwarts, mistakenly confused with warthogs,
Joe settles for hats and wigs to change character and puppets to
represent the Evil Serpent or Dobby the House Elf from The Chamber of Secrets.
To the excited fans of the books,
Potted Potter is a riotously
funny spoof that only serves to enflame the passionate obsession with
the stories. It is the paradox of perfect parody that it adds to the adoration,
and JK Rowlings’ fans in the audience
adored the crazy antics of James and Joe who charge through the canon with
improvisation and ad libs to enliven the material and keep their audience in a
state of uproarious delight. .The Canberra Theatre roof nearly took off when
Joe introduced a live game of Quidditch, which coincidentally has taken off on
playing fields in England. Half the audience are the Gryffindors and the other
half the Slytherins. A large inflated ball is hurled into the audience and the
games afoot as until James appears as a Ferrero Rocher golden Quidditch.. This
is high octane audience participation with cheers that raise the roof as the
Slytherins are proclaimed the visitors..
In about seventy non stop,
frantically funny minutes of belly
laughing entertainment, James and Joe manage to travel through the seven books
with an array of familiar characters from the three intrepid heroes to Hagrid,
Dumbledore, the evil Lord Voldemort ,Severus
Snape, Sirius Black and the snide Draca Malfoy to name but a few of
Rowlings’ eternally popular storybook creations from her vivid imagination.
After the laughter and through
the madness and mayhem, Potted Potter,
now a world wide sensation, leaves its
two actors exhausted and an audience thrilled to have lived the adventure and
laugh with tears of love for their revered author and her magical world of
wizardry and witchcraft.
