JK Rowling to collaborate on Harry Potter play for West End

Harry Potter author in talks with writers and producers to create a theatrical version of the boy wizard story

JK Rowling is in talks with writers and producers to bring a theatrical version of Harry Potter to the West End, it has been reported.

The production won’t be a condensed run through the epic saga of the books, but rather a focus on Harry’s early years and the story of his parents, who are killed by Lord Voldemort when Harry is 15 months old.

According to the Daily Mail, a leading choice for director is John Tiffany, whose staging of the leftfield vampire tale Let the Right One In is currently playing at London’s Apollo theatre, and whose Broadway production of The Glass Menagerie has been nominated for seven Tony awards including one for directing. Jack Thorne, who wrote the Let the Right One In adaptation, is also apparently being courted by Rowling.

The play’s producers will be Sonia Friedman, whose recent hits include Chimerica and Mojo, and Colin Callender, whose 2013 production of Nora Ephron’s Lucky Guy starring Tom Hanks became the highest-grossing play in Broadway history.

An executive from Warner Brothers, the studio behind the film adaptations who are also involved, told the Mail: “We will see what we have when it’s written, and proceed from there. Remember: it’s a play, not a musical; so we may not require a great big theatre.”

It’s the latest extension of the Potter universe, following a recent burst of activity from Rowling. As Harry’s wife Ginny she has written match reports from the Quidditch world cup, while she also threw her support behind the Scottish rugby team in a story for her website Pottermore. Three movies are in the works based around Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and her recent adult novel The Casual Vacancy will be adapted into a TV miniseries by HBO and the BBC.

STARS ON STAGE IN LONDON’S WEST END

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