This year is a major Harry Potter fest.
Firstly, it has now been confirmed that the final Harry Potter book will be called
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and is to be published on Saturday 21
July (which actually means on the Friday night if past experience is anything to go
by). At that point we shall find out if any of my
predictions come true.
Meantime, we have the release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on
Friday 13 July. Teaser trailers and posters have already begin appearing for this major
motion picture event.
Finally, there's Equus. This play by Peter Shaffer will star Daniel Radcliffe and
Richard Griffiths (two Potter films stalwarts). I'm very intrigued by this as I saw the
original National Theatre production at the Old Vic when its main players were Peter
Firth and Alec McCowen. It was a career defining performance for Peter Firth and he
struggled to come out of its shadow for many years (he's now a regular on our TV screens
as Harry in Spooks. I'll be interested to see how they do the horses. It was the
most distinctive feature of John Dexter's production and was a stunning coup de
théâtre.
The publicity machine for Equus has been under way for some time now and is picking up speed as we near the first night. Though the two articles were printed some two months apart, I find it odd that David Pugh uses the same line "We are not doing it as an excuse to show Harry Potter's willy" in both. Either he trots it out in every interview or he is protesting too much. I favour the latter. I think he knows that Harry Potter's willy will sell tickets.
In a similar vein, the publicity photographs recently released have caused quite a stir among many of the newsgroups and blogs out there in cyberspace.
Well, I found myself going "Fwar" and then realised that I was perving over a 17 year old lad. Many have said that this is simply a reaction t the high art of it all. Actually, I think that that is a nonsense. Yes, the photographs are extremely well crafted. And they are crafted to make Daniel Radcliffe's body look very desirable and available.
That body hair, that treasure trail, those perky nipples.
It has nothing to do with art and everything to do with using sex to sell tickets. Harry Potter's willy, in fact.
I can already see the parody titles.
Still, I can see one positive virtue in terms of the play for all of the work that young Daniel has been putting in at the gym.
He actually does look as though he might be a stable lad, which is what the character
Alan Strang is. Peter Firth looked very beautiful back in 1974. But it was a 1970s
beauty which didn't have much to do with the gym bunny culture of the past decade or
so. And it didn't really look as though he worked performing manual labour for a living
come to think of it. Young Dan looks quite capable of hefting those saddles around.
Anyhow, I shall be primed to report back to you all when Ross and I see the show in May. We have our tickets booked.