Win tickets to see Harry Potter And the Cursed Child in New York or London

Go behind the scenes to meet the cast and crew of theatre’s most magical production and see how you could be jetting off to see the show.

Nobody had ever seen anything like it.

Not the addicts of the books nor the fans of the films, nor even the theatre critics who on opening night were as wowed as the children.

Never had anyone witnessed Wizarding World brought to life before their very eyes as it was on July 30, 2016, the world premiere of And the Cursed Child.

From a brand new compelling Harry Potter story constructed by J.K. Rowling herself, theatre writer Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany, to the most spectacular effects ever seen in (and possibly outside of) a theatre, the stage instalment of the Harry Potter saga defied expectation.

It had been assumed by many that the West End show would follow in the footsteps of the hugely enjoyable if undoubtedly commercial films.

Yet the record-breaking nine Olivier Awards the show won the following April reflected the creativity, craft and heart of a production that bagged nearly all the major gongs for which it was nominated – including Best New Play, three of the best acting awards and nods also for the Best Set, Costume, Sound and Lighting Design.

The awards were testament to the genius of the decision not to attempt a stage version of the movies nor, as producer Sonia Friedman says in this Showtime special, to make the most obvious money-making show, a musical – but to forge a production confident in the ability of theatre to tell stories, no matter how fantastical, in its own inimitable way.

‘I honestly believe you can do anything on stage,’ illusionist and magician Jamie Harrison recently told me from the calm perspective of looking back at the premiere and having seen the show go from strength-to-strength – not to mention the likes of New York, Melbourne, San Francisco, Hamburg and soon Toronto and Tokyo, too.

The skills Jamie Harrison brought to the show were so particular to Harry Potter And the Cursed Child it explains why there is no category to recognise his contribution.

But nobody leaves the theatre without being astounded by his work, particularly the moments he combines with video designer Finn Ross – such as when the Time-Turner transports Albus and Scorpius to when Albus’s dad Harry was still at Hogwarts.

Here, the entire fabric of the theatre in which the audience are sitting appears to warp like a wobble board as the Time-Turner does its thing.

It nearly didn’t happen. After Jamie demonstrated to J.K. Rowling the intricately made machine that had been constructed at great expense, Jamie and his colleague, magic and illusions designer Chris Fisher, were returning by Tube to the studio where the Time-Turner had been developed.

The two were giddy with excitement at how successful the demonstration had been.

Then the case in which the Time-Turner was being carried became trapped in the closing doors of the Tube train and fell onto the platform.

‘We thought we’d lost the one and only Time-Turner, until we managed to prise the door open and bring it back in. It was a real moment of terror.’

But bring it in they did and, aptly enough, the rest is history.