{"id":16444,"date":"2018-09-26T09:00:38","date_gmt":"2018-09-26T16:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=16444"},"modified":"2018-09-25T10:21:42","modified_gmt":"2018-09-25T17:21:42","slug":"potted-potter-tells-a-whole-lot-of-harry-in-a-short-amount-of-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2018\/09\/26\/potted-potter-tells-a-whole-lot-of-harry-in-a-short-amount-of-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Potted Potter<\/em> tells a whole lot of Harry in a short amount of time"},"content":{"rendered":"

The premise for Potted<\/i> Potter<\/i> is a little daunting: two actors performing all seven Harry Potter<\/i> books\u2026 in 70 minutes. But co-creator, writer, and actor Dan Clarkson chooses to focus on the positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get to be wizards for 70 minutes a day,\u201d Clarkson says. \u201cSo it\u2019s, you know, fun.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Potted Potter<\/i> has run for almost 13 years, and the team behind it has stayed relatively consistent, presenting the challenges of keeping the show fresh and harmonious for everyone involved.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, we do literally all want to kill each other now with wands,\u201d Clarkson jokes. \u201cBut I would say there is a lot of improvisation in the show as well. Especially when we play a live game of quidditch with the entire audience, where we get people up on stage to be seekers, and you can\u2019t predict what an audience member is gonna do. Especially [when] you get kids up\u2014you can\u2019t predict what\u2019s going to come out of a kid\u2019s mind, so a lot of that is always different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Potted Potter brings all seven Harry Potter books to audiences in one 70-minute performance (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clarkson also adds ever-changing pop-culture references to help keep the show fresh. Whether it\u2019s a shout-out to a local sports team or politician, or updating jokes to include the latest fads, relevant references are something Potted Potter<\/i> strives for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when we started we had Rihanna\u2019s song \u2018Umbrella\u2019 in it,\u201d Clarkson says. \u201cAnd if we did that now everyone would look at us blankly, wondering what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re like me and panicking over the prospect of audience participation, don\u2019t worry: Clarkson doesn\u2019t look for the most uncomfortable person to haul on stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the very start of the show, we come out and we\u2019re shaking hands with the audience and chatting to them. And that is, literally, where I decide who is going to be in the show, who could be a good volunteer, which sort of adult I could refer to as, you know, Dumbledore,\u201d he says. \u201cSo if you wanted to be in the show, when we\u2019re talking to you at the start, if you\u2019re just very chatty and a lot of fun, chances are we\u2019ll remember where you\u2019re sitting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clarkson admits that this vetting process isn\u2019t completely foolproof, because you never know how someone\u2019s going to react until they actually get on stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a mix of all sorts of ones,\u201d he says, \u201cespecially with the kids. We\u2019ve had ones that as soon as the light hits them, they\u2019re like a rabbit in the headlights. Then we\u2019ve had ones when the lights hit them, that\u2019s it\u2014this is their moment, they go for it, and they do not care who else is on the stage. You watch their parents sink down into their seats going, \u2018This isn\u2019t my child, I\u2019m really sorry.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The spontaneity adds to the enjoyment for everyone involved. And no worries if you\u2019ve never read the Harry Potter <\/i>books. The people behind Potted Potter<\/i> know you exist and want to include you.<\/p>\n

\u201cBelieve it or not, there are some people in the world who have not read Harry Potter<\/i>,\u201d says Clarkson. \u201cI\u2019ve never met one, but I hear they exist, and this is a great way for them to get into it. It sort of introduces the books to them, the characters to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

And being a part of that is something in which Clarkson finds a lot of joy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a dad who took his two kids, who actually came up and thanked us afterward because he now felt he could bond with his daughters,\u201d says Clarkson, \u201cand he wouldn\u2019t keep telling them off because he thought \u2018snitch\u2019 was a curse word.\u201d<\/p>\n

Potted Potter
\n<\/i>Various times,\u00a0Wednesday, October 3\u00a0to Monday, October 8
\nVarious prices,\u00a0McPherson Playhouse
\npottedpotter.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The premise for Potted Potter is a little daunting: two actors performing all seven Harry Potter books\u2026 in 70 minutes. But co-creator, writer, and actor Dan Clarkson chooses to focus on the positive. \u201cWe get to be wizards for 70 minutes a day,\u201d Clarkson says. \u201cSo it\u2019s, you know, fun.\u201d\u00a0 Potted Potter has run for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,219],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-september-26-2018"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16444"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16446,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16444\/revisions\/16446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}