Potted Potter

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by Bryony Harrison (subscribe)

Freelance writer and poet from London; if you would like to read my poetry, please check out my book, 'Poems on the Page', available from goo.gl/Ta4oAX.

Event: 23/03/2013 - 21/04/2013

7 Books in Seventy Minutes

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Three thousand four hundred and seven. That is how many pages are in the entire Harry Potter series (UK edition). I think that constitutes as an epic. How long it takes to read depends on how quick a reader you are, but to listen to the audiobooks, it would take you one hundred and twenty-six hours and fifty-six minutes. The directors of the movies managed to whittle the watching time down to seventeen hours and twenty-nine minutes. How much quicker do you think it can be told? Try seventy minutes. That's right, the entire Harry Potter series in just over an hour.

Potted Potter is a stage parody by Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner. The two-time Olivier Award-nominated actors give a full on unauthorized Harry Potter experience, and between them play the roles of over a hundred and thirty characters.

It all began in 2005 when they were asked to perform a five minute recap of the first five Harry Potter books to an audience queuing for the midnight release of The Half Blood Prince. In 2006 and six, they then wrote Potted Potter, an hour-long show that parodied the first six books. The show's popularity took Dan and Jeff on tour around the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and America. When the seventh book was released, they extended the performance to seventy minutes, and now they are showing it to UK audiences until the 21st April at the Garrick Theatre on Charing Cross Road. Tickets are between £20-£30 and are suitable for wizards & muggles from the ages of six to Dumbledore (Nicholas Flammels are asked to wait outside).