As Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy, Ben Walter and Nyx Calder keep the buddy story between two bullied teens alive, funny and true. The adolescent vulnerability (and volatility) they bring to the roles are a pleasure to watch, even if this version resorts to needless dredging up of homoerotic subtext rather than the more tentative, refined and ambiguous suggestion in the original.
Gareth Reeves and Lucy Goleby as a married Harry and Ginny Potter somehow keep an impression of their characters’ deep bond, and David Ross Paterson as Snape remains a snaky delight.
Some of the supporting cast are more short-changed by the edits: the brilliant and amusing contrast between Paula Arundell’s Hermione and Michael Whalley’s Ron is neatly sketched but loses the detail that made it so endearing.
And one notable deficiency, narrative-wise, is the lack of foregrounding to Delphi Diggory (Jessica Vickers), companion to Albus and Scorpius. It’s hard to generate an emotional reaction to the significant plot twist she plays a part in, and the flip side of the orphan story she represents, when she barely appears in the play’s first half.