The spellbinding play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child returns to the stage in Melbourne on 18 November – but if you want to see the original two-part version, you have until 27 March to do so.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Melbourne, 2021. Photo © Daniel Boud

From May, a new version, condensed to one play, will hit the boards at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre. While telling the same narrative, the story has been reimagined to run in one part (with interval) across three and a half hours instead of the five-and-a-half-hour running time of the epic two-part version, which opened in Melbourne in February 2019 to rave reviews, with Limelight giving it five stars.

Stunning though the original production was – with a dramatic cliff-hanger at the end of the first part that made you desperate to return either later that day or on a following occasion – the new, shorter version will make it more affordable and accessible for a broader audience.

Based on an original story by J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is written by Jack Thorne. It tells...