Harry Potter and the Cursed Child's plays' producer Sonia Friedman opened up on Friday about the process in which the production came to fruition, starting with her original chat with author J.K. Rowling, to bringing on director John Tiffany and playwright Jack Thorne.
Do note that it is Jack Thorne who wrote the actual story for
Cursed Child, with the collaborate effort from the
Harry Potter author. The
Cursed Child was not Rowling's idea originally, but that of the two producers (Friedman and Colin Callendar) who approached her with the sequel to
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, post-epilogue.
More information on how the production, which begins previews this May at London's Palace Theatre, sprang to life, can be read below.
Kirsty Lang: How many [plays] have you go on the go in total in London and Broadway?
Sonia Friedman: Actually not that many for me. Last year we produced 19. This year, because of Harry Potter, we’ve cut the workload down because is taking up a heck of a lot of my head space and my resource.
Lang: Talk us through the process of how you, as a producer, got the Harry Potter stage show off the ground.
Friedman: We had an idea. Along with my partner Colin Callender, a producer from America who I’m collaborating with on several things, we had an idea that we took to J.K. Rowling and her management. And the idea was we would like the opportunity to put Harry Potter on stage but in a new story.
Lang: This is Harry as an adult. He’s in his mid-thirties. He’s got three children.
Friedman: That’s what we’ve said publicly, yes.
Lang: What interests me is that it’s not actually being written by J.K. Rowling, is it, but a young playwright called Jack Thorne? Was that your idea?
Friedman: Well, Jo’s very, very crucial. She’s very involved in the story. Once Jo said, “Yes, let’s explore this,” we introduced her to John Tiffany.
Lang: He did Black Watch.
Friedman: Correct. And, in fact, it was Black Watch that was my way in on this because I think Black Watch was such an exceptional piece of theater that used physical dance as well as very strong narrative to tell stories. And Jo was aware of Black Watch and was very excited by the idea of John Tiffany. John Tiffany had just done Let The Right One In with Jack Thorne, the playwright, at the Royal Court, which she had absolutely loved.
Lang: You’re saying to J.K. Rowling, “We’ve got your story, we’re going to put you together with this director and this playwright.
Friedman: Yes. The most important job a producer can do is the moment that you engage your director and, if it’s a new play, commission the writer. If you get those two bits right, your job is so much easier.
Lang: And you have some involvement in the casting, don’t you? And I ask this because this production of Harry Potter has one of the year’s most talked-about castings – of the black actress Noma Dumezweni is playing Hermione.
Friedman: She’s phenomenal. She did a couple of workshops with us, and it’s always best to try and work with actors you’ve developed worked with.
Lang: Were you making a conscious political decision about diversity?
Friedman: Not in the casting of Hermione. But when you are casting a company of 20, 30 – in this instance we’ve got 34 in the company – it would be absolutely inappropriate to not represent society on that stage.
Pre-order the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child script book hardcover text on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and WBShop now. 
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child producer talks bringing plays' idea to J.K. Rowling 
