Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Fans line up for midnight launch of new JK Rowling play script

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Harry Potter has cast a spell over the world once again as fans queue up at bookshops around the globe for the release of the magical franchise’s eighth installment, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, at midnight. In Porto, Portugal, huge lines of people snaked around the famous Livraria Lello bookshop, while in Los Angeles plays people gathered for a planned meeting of witches and wizards at the city’s Union Station and in New York the Strand Bookstore held costume contests, trivia and live sorting. open image in gallery JK Rowling with writer of the show Jack Thorne, director John Tiffany and co-producers at the opening gala performance of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child The play premiered at London’s Palace theatre on Saturday afternoon, where author JK Rowling joined director John Tiffany and playwright Jack Thorne for the gala opening. It received a slew of five-star reviews earlier this week, with one critic saying that “British theatre hasn’t known anything like it for decades.” The two-part play stretches over five hours and was co-devised by Rowling, written by Mr Thorne and directed by Mr Tiffany.