Potted Potter: The Unauthorized Harry Experience
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https://www.pottedpotter.com.au/
Date Reviewed: 22/06/2021
Cross-generational family fun at its finest
Review written by Cassie Cheeseman
Written and created by Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner, mainstays in the British children’s entertainment circuit, Potted Potter offers globally renowned and light hearted family entertainment. It is running for a limited time across Australia in July and August.
The entire performance runs for 70 minutes of non stop fast paced action where slap stick and nonsensical humour are dished out on the regular. The general plot involves two Kiwis; Tama Jarman and Adam Brown (real names) taking on the mammoth task of presenting the entire Harry Potter Universe in an abridged form. Of course there is no time for the stories to be addressed in full detail and much of the charm of this production is seeing 320 characters and 7 books generalised and stereotyped into a short form.
Adam Brown predominantly plays the iconic (and let’s all agree – somewhat boring) Harry, whilst Tama Jarman bounces between the other 300 odd characters including Hermione, Hagrid and He who must not be named. The two collaborate well together and seem to genuinely enjoy what they do. With the opportunity to perform as themselves performing as others, each actors personality is given the opportunity to shine and the two go well together and seem to enjoy what they do. Parts appear to be ad-libbed implying that this is a show that can evolve and adapt to suit the mood of the performers and their audience. For instance, at one point during the show, Adam Brown remarked that Tama Jarman had extremely good aim with a glass of water he threw in Adam’s face and it was a shame he didn’t now have a towel to dry it off.
Audience engagement is high and is generally goofily deprecating. It includes things like teasing particular audience members for being Hufflepuffs as well as one segment where the entire audience is directed to stand up and engage in a mass quidditch game. Such light fun was particularly well received by the younger audience members.
The set is intentionally barebones to reflect the plot which sees Tama Jarman having wasted their production money on non-necessities and as a consequence is suitable and functional. The lighting was good and it was evident necessary cues had been passed on from the performance duo to the lighting team.
The biggest let down of the performance was the venue seating which was incredibly squishy and left audience members feeling cramped and resulted in many people distractingly fidgeting in an attempt to get comfortable during the performance.
Potted Potter is a timeless classic, written in 2006 and still relevant today. It provides a sense of nostalgia to the Harry Potter series fanbase, but also a high level of entertainment for a younger audience less familiar with the production making it perfect for a family day out.