When it comes to celebrating their 100th year anniversary, St. Joseph’s High School has added a touch of magic and wizardry to the festivities.
The school is the only one in Ontario and among three high schools in the country to premiere the stage production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
The production is based on an original story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany. The play is the work of Jack Thorne.
A technically demanding theatrical feat to pull off, admits Rob Bannerman, an English and drama teacher at St. Joe’s.
Pulling this off “will be a really good challenge,” conceded Bannerman.
So, how did Bannerman and the school manage the nearly impossible by obtaining the rights to the production?
He noted the school had to follow a very specific application process to even be considered.
Brooklyn Pritchard graduated from St. Joe’s in 2019 and this March joined the teaching staff.
However she has been involved in the production since January, working as co-director.
And for some of the students, this is their first production.
In the role as Harry Potter is Grade 9 student Casey Cherepaty, who noted the role required several adaptations on his part, including a transformation of his natural blonde hair.
Grade 12 student Lydia Drummelsmith is cast as Prof. McGonagall, who couldn’t wait to finish with rehearsals and take to the stage in the finished production.
For Grade 10 student Avery McLaughlin, who plays Albus Potter, she said reading the book was ‘super cool.’ But then to be cast in the production, well that takes matters to a much higher level.
For Cooper Harris, he got the role of Harry Potter’s best friend, Ron Weasley. As the Grade 12 student stressed, “I just get to be myself.”
Earning the privilege to stage Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is an honour for the entire school, praised Bannerman.
“You know,” recounted Bannerman, “there’s a number of, we’ll call them veteran students who have done other performances before and they’re used to that limelight. But yeah, this one is, this one’s fun.
“You know, even for me when I started working on this that I had the nervous energy that I felt when I was first a kid and getting up on stage and you just, there’s something new and something really exciting about this.
“So I just, I can’t wait to see the smiles on their faces when the lights turn on and the audience, they recognize the audience is there. Well, they look out, yeah. Yeah. And there’s everybody waiting.”
This is the second week of the two-week run with performances Wednesday through Friday at 7 p.m. and a Saturday matinee at 1:30 p.m.
To order tickets, visit https://sjh.ldcsb.ca/apps/news/article/854411
All seating will be assigned based on best available seats at the time of purchase. Tickets can be picked up at the door on the day of the performance.
Written by Ian McCallum
