Fans of Harry Potter gathered to enjoy all seven Harry Potter books condensed into 70 minutes at the National Arts Centre earlier this week.
Friends Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner, from the U.K., travelled to Ottawa as part of their global tour to perform Potted Potter: An Unauthorized Harry Experience. Turner plays the role of Harry Potter, while Clarkson plays more than 300 characters from the books by J.K Rowling.
“I play everyone from Lord Voldemort to Hermione Granger to a fire breathing dragon,” Clarkson says.
The performance started in 2005 in the U.K. when Clarkson was asked to act out the first five books in five minutes as a recap before the sixth book was released.
“I didn’t think it would go past that evening. I took the job primarily so I could get my hands on the sixth book before anybody else,” he says. “I was a huge Harry Potter fan and that was the main reason I took the job. I never imaged all of this would happen.”
The five-minute performance escalated to a 70-minute production, performed all over the world. The duo recently returned from Mexico and will perform in Ireland and Hong Kong later this year.
But Clarkson says Ottawa was his first choice on where to perform and says it’s an honour to be at the NAC.
“I love performing in Canada. (Canadians) are my favourite type of audiences,” he says, recalling his experiences in Toronto in 2012. “They really get our sense of humour so it’s always a great audience to perform for.”
Simone Deneau, producer of NAC Variety, says bringing programing aimed at children to the NAC is important.
“Art education is exposing children to the arts and it’s very important, “she says. “There are different types of programing, some that are purely entertaining and some that are educational.”
Clarkson agrees that it’s important to entertain both adults and children.
“That’s exactly what the books do. They’re written for children, yet very popular with adults, so when we started the show it was very important to us that just like the books, we would appeal to both adults and children,” he says.
Indeed, it’s not just the children that are there to see wizards and magic.
Soon-to-graduate Carleton University student, Krista McConnell, bought tickets when she first heard about the show coming to the NAC.
“I recently went to a show at the NAC and loved it. So when I heard about Potted Potter, I really wanted to go,”she says. “Harry Potter is a classic.”
Clarkson says he looks forward to creating more productions of popular stories, such as Sherlock Holmes, but hopes Potted Potter will continue.
“One day we can hand it off to our grandkids to continue the legacy,” he says.