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Harry Potter: Cowardice, Coolness, and Survival
There is a moment, in Harry Potter and the Curse Child as I've seen it (original cast London, second cast London, original cast early previews NYC) in which Delphi and Harry duel one-on-one in a church. Delphi takes Harry's wand away and Harry scrambles under a church pew to hide from Delphi. Delphi in this moment, taunts Harry for hiding from her, like a coward*.
Some people don't like the scene (just one example, specifically the original poster, I don't know how to link to it), and I get it. It's not very heroic-looking, Harry Potter, the hero of our childhoods and collective nostalgia, hiding under a bench, being taunted. No snappy comebacks, no visually impressive bravado. It looks cowardly and I've seen fans have complained about it.
The thing is I adore that scene. It's one of my absolute favorite parts of the show. I want to write odes to that scene, and oh wait that's what this is going to be.
See, one of the excellent things about the Harry Potter books is that Harry is not a suave, smooth hero. Harry's a fumbling teenager for most of the books, and as he points out REPEATEDLY in Order of the Phoenix, he lives through the series mostly through luck. Sure, it's luck and a whole heap of deep magic (magic of love, magic of selfless sacrifice, etc.) but that was magic Harry did not KNOWINGLY invoke. Harry lucked into living, and Harry largely lucked into winning.
Take the graveyard scene in the Goblet of Fire. Harry didn't survive that night because he was good at magic. It was sheer luck Voldemort let him fight back, and it was sheer luck that the double wand cores saved them. Harry had grit, and Harry had pride, but Harry did not have any smooth moves. His survival in that scene was awkward and messy. (And there were "cowardly" moments. Harry ducked behind a gravestone until he was forced to fight Voldemort.) Harry has always been good at using whatever small tools he had at hand when necessary. Remember, Harrys' earliest instincts came from being a small, skinny kid running from the neighborhood bullies aka Dudley and co.
Take the final battle! If Voldemort hadn't been willing to listen to Harry talking, if Draco hadn't disarmed Dumbledore, if Harry hadn't disarmed Draco....guys. Harry may have defeated Voldemort but he did as a half-starved, likely unshaven teenage boy who had gone too long without a shower and likely even longer without a decent hair cut. He relied heavily on luck, and some desperate guesswork and very much did not use fancy spells and impressive action sequences.
Was the choice to duck under the bench cowardly? I don't know, I think it's the wrong framing. When you are in a real fight, a fight for your LIFE, you don't stand up and look majestic while implicitly yelling "over here I'm an easy target!" You do what it takes to survive even if it looks silly and unimpressive and pathetic. Harry is not James Bond. Harry doesn't look GOOD when he survives. Harry, again, is not smooth. Harry chokes on snitches, Harry smacks his head on the undersides of windowsills.
So Harry does not look good when he survives. BUT. Harry does survive. Not despite looking like a fool, but sometimes because he's willing to look like a fool. And that's such a quiet message of Harry Potter, but such a good one. Do what it takes to survive. Do whatever it takes. Don't worry about how it looks or if you come off as cool. (Remember, Harry stops trying to show off for Cho in the end.) Survive.
*As part of the scene Delphi lifts the pew in the air and lets it almost crash down on Harry while she taunts him. The reason the scene it being modified is that on March 31, 2018 there was a mistake in the London production of the show and the pew actually fell on Gideon Turner's (first understudy to Harry Potter) head. Rumor was that they were changing the choreography of the scene because of that. And I want to be clear: THAT MAKES SENSE. No play is worth someone's safety.
But that moment was a part of what I loved about the scene. Harry throws himself under the bench when he loses his wand and Delphi makes fun of him. Then Delphi spells the bench to lift into the air, revealing Harry who had been curled up underneath it. With Delphi flying and taunting in the background, Harry looked pathetic. He couldn't do anything to protect himself and he literally screams in fear. And Harry does have an audience in the moment. Ron and Hermione and Albus and Scorpius and OH YEAH DRACO MALFOY can all hear him (although they can't see him, as they are trapped behind doors and can't help him). And they can hear Delphi taunting him. But Harry doesn't shout any impressive quips back to Delphi. In that moment, Harry is scared and he's not afraid to show it. I love it. I can't help mourning that the particular choreography is gone.
I'm surprised by how much this is tearing me apart, actually. But hey here's some meta as a result.
I don't know what the new scene looks like, but apparently Harry doesn't duck under the pew at all now? And I guess if you're going to remove the effect that's ok. I do hope they think about how they are going to replace the choreography long term to try and recapture some of the underlying message I took away from Harry Potter. I miss both parts already terribly; the part where Harry hides AND the part where Delphi lifts the pew and taunts him for his perceived cowardice. I felt the whole scene was perfectly in line with the Harry Potter books I read. My heroes will scrabble and scrape and hide and do whatever it takes to survive. That's winning.
Some people don't like the scene (just one example, specifically the original poster, I don't know how to link to it), and I get it. It's not very heroic-looking, Harry Potter, the hero of our childhoods and collective nostalgia, hiding under a bench, being taunted. No snappy comebacks, no visually impressive bravado. It looks cowardly and I've seen fans have complained about it.
The thing is I adore that scene. It's one of my absolute favorite parts of the show. I want to write odes to that scene, and oh wait that's what this is going to be.
See, one of the excellent things about the Harry Potter books is that Harry is not a suave, smooth hero. Harry's a fumbling teenager for most of the books, and as he points out REPEATEDLY in Order of the Phoenix, he lives through the series mostly through luck. Sure, it's luck and a whole heap of deep magic (magic of love, magic of selfless sacrifice, etc.) but that was magic Harry did not KNOWINGLY invoke. Harry lucked into living, and Harry largely lucked into winning.
Take the graveyard scene in the Goblet of Fire. Harry didn't survive that night because he was good at magic. It was sheer luck Voldemort let him fight back, and it was sheer luck that the double wand cores saved them. Harry had grit, and Harry had pride, but Harry did not have any smooth moves. His survival in that scene was awkward and messy. (And there were "cowardly" moments. Harry ducked behind a gravestone until he was forced to fight Voldemort.) Harry has always been good at using whatever small tools he had at hand when necessary. Remember, Harrys' earliest instincts came from being a small, skinny kid running from the neighborhood bullies aka Dudley and co.
Take the final battle! If Voldemort hadn't been willing to listen to Harry talking, if Draco hadn't disarmed Dumbledore, if Harry hadn't disarmed Draco....guys. Harry may have defeated Voldemort but he did as a half-starved, likely unshaven teenage boy who had gone too long without a shower and likely even longer without a decent hair cut. He relied heavily on luck, and some desperate guesswork and very much did not use fancy spells and impressive action sequences.
Was the choice to duck under the bench cowardly? I don't know, I think it's the wrong framing. When you are in a real fight, a fight for your LIFE, you don't stand up and look majestic while implicitly yelling "over here I'm an easy target!" You do what it takes to survive even if it looks silly and unimpressive and pathetic. Harry is not James Bond. Harry doesn't look GOOD when he survives. Harry, again, is not smooth. Harry chokes on snitches, Harry smacks his head on the undersides of windowsills.
So Harry does not look good when he survives. BUT. Harry does survive. Not despite looking like a fool, but sometimes because he's willing to look like a fool. And that's such a quiet message of Harry Potter, but such a good one. Do what it takes to survive. Do whatever it takes. Don't worry about how it looks or if you come off as cool. (Remember, Harry stops trying to show off for Cho in the end.) Survive.
*As part of the scene Delphi lifts the pew in the air and lets it almost crash down on Harry while she taunts him. The reason the scene it being modified is that on March 31, 2018 there was a mistake in the London production of the show and the pew actually fell on Gideon Turner's (first understudy to Harry Potter) head. Rumor was that they were changing the choreography of the scene because of that. And I want to be clear: THAT MAKES SENSE. No play is worth someone's safety.
But that moment was a part of what I loved about the scene. Harry throws himself under the bench when he loses his wand and Delphi makes fun of him. Then Delphi spells the bench to lift into the air, revealing Harry who had been curled up underneath it. With Delphi flying and taunting in the background, Harry looked pathetic. He couldn't do anything to protect himself and he literally screams in fear. And Harry does have an audience in the moment. Ron and Hermione and Albus and Scorpius and OH YEAH DRACO MALFOY can all hear him (although they can't see him, as they are trapped behind doors and can't help him). And they can hear Delphi taunting him. But Harry doesn't shout any impressive quips back to Delphi. In that moment, Harry is scared and he's not afraid to show it. I love it. I can't help mourning that the particular choreography is gone.
I'm surprised by how much this is tearing me apart, actually. But hey here's some meta as a result.
I don't know what the new scene looks like, but apparently Harry doesn't duck under the pew at all now? And I guess if you're going to remove the effect that's ok. I do hope they think about how they are going to replace the choreography long term to try and recapture some of the underlying message I took away from Harry Potter. I miss both parts already terribly; the part where Harry hides AND the part where Delphi lifts the pew and taunts him for his perceived cowardice. I felt the whole scene was perfectly in line with the Harry Potter books I read. My heroes will scrabble and scrape and hide and do whatever it takes to survive. That's winning.