This is by no means a show for the faint of heart.
'Puffs' rips through seven years of madness at a certain school of magic, loading its audiences up with quick, clever humour and not one moment to breathe. . . Apart from the interval. Right off the bat are some geographically-relevant jokes which are always a winner and a great way to engage a curious crowd, but a simple way nonetheless. Never fear, as the writing throughout is simply brilliant, and a 'Potter' fan's dream. References to things such as the switch in actors playing Professor Dumbledore between 'Chamber Of Secrets' and 'Prisoner Of Azkaban', or Dumbledore's famously “calm” way of asking if Harry put his name into the Goblet Of Fire, are huge moments of laughter and applause.
But the laughs don't all come from callbacks to a pre-existing text. New lines of dialogue from the actors on stage are delivered just as crisply, particularly those from narrator Gareth Isaac, who speeds us through the tale with a sense of urgency while making it look so easy. Props to you, Gareth.
Many of the actors play multiple characters including Olivia Charalambous playing Susie as well as bringing out all the terribly unlikeable aspects of the titular character in the original book/film franchise.
Daniel Cosgrove masters his role of J. Finch, but he shines as the famously irritating Zacharias, portrayed here as an erratic and foul-mouthed student who is the only character in the show to fully shatter the fourth wall to the point where even his fellow cast members on stage were breaking character. It was a brief but welcome moment in the chaos of the storyline, shifting the vibe of the show completely, and resulting in a room full of hysterical laughter.
Ryan Hawke as Wayne, Angelina Thomson as Megan, and Adam Marks as Oliver were a great trio of unlikely friends who genuinely somehow displayed a sense of growth and progress in their friendship as the years went by, despite the show having barely any room to explore more than the surface levels of its characters.
Another favourite is Matt Whitty's portrayal of Snape. If you're able to do the voice and mimic this professor's physical hallmarks, anything is possible. Like, for example, Snape teaching sex-ed. Hilarious.
To take the main themes of one story and pull focus on an essentially ignored element of its universe is a great idea, and 'Puffs' executes this great idea to conjure it into a shimmering reality. The wildly successful 'Harry Potter' films were the result of a book series, so who says the next wildly successful set of films can't be based off a stage show? 'Puffs' on the big screen. . . If it's got even an inch of the personality packed into this performance, it sounds like a hit to me. Green-light it, Hollywood!
A fantastic night at the theatre.
★★★★★
