Potted Power
Long after the Harry Potter saga had come to its denouement with part deux of the Deathly Hallows (we’re talking bestsellers here, books, audio books, video games, and a slew of blockbuster films that catapulted Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson into Hollywood ubiquity), companies and cultural entities are still cashing in on the legacy and equity that author J.K. Rowling had generated for her billion-dollar empire. Well, Entertainment Weekly reported that Rowling has been reduced to millionaire status with all her philanthropy and taxpaying, but for a woman of her stature and success, who cares?
To date, several exhibits have sprouted in cities across the globe, allowing viewers to take a more personal look into the intricacies that surround Harry’s wizarding world. There’s the widely successful Harry Potter theme park in Universal Studios Florida where you can get “sorted” upon entry and buy some Butter Beer (unfortunately, it’s NOT alcoholic. Le sigh!). There’s also the merchandise — Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, Chocolate Frogs, wands and T-shirts. And lest we forget, Pottermore which, for a time, kept bright young Manila antsy for advanced on-line enrollment (alas, I never did qualify). Harry Potter is indeed a brand that has grown synonymous with unbridled success.
One of its lesser known yet critically acclaimed offshoots however, though billed as an “unauthorized” experience, is a 70-minute spoof-tacular that Guardian UK has touted as “blissfully funny (and) a winner in every way.” Potted Potter, which flew to Manila for a series of high-octane performances, recently capped off its sold-out run at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium in RCBC.
POTTED POTTER
My experience of the show, though pleasant for the most part, was partially hindered by my personal reservations about foreign entities coming to our soil to compete with local productions. Also, to see the theater packed while ticket prices were jacked up vis-à-vis the commerce of local production outfits was a tad bit unnerving. Could this be a product of the Filipino’s continued state of colonial mentality? Or could it be that the product was unique and possessed tremendous brand equity, even if it was by association? I don’t know if a spoof of Captain Barbell or Mulawin would do as well. After all, there was hardly any time for word of mouth to take effect, an effective marketing strategy for theater outfits, given that the show only ran for a week.
Nevertheless, parking myself by the theater lobby while waiting for friends to arrive, I was as giddy as a kid in Disneyland, elevated by the fact that we got hold of discounted rush seats. The show’s organizers also made use of “Tweet Seats” which is a strategy performing arts entities in the United States have been using wherein they block off the last row of seats to allow active engagement on Twitter and social media. Hashtag #bookit.
Written and directed by Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner, and performed by the dynamic duo of Jesse Briton and Gary Trainor, the show took on the ultimate challenge of condensing all seven Harry Potter books into seventy minutes. Trainor plays the specs-toting Harry Potter (who looked more like Leonard Hofstadter from Big Bang Theory really), and Briton (who effectively became his Sheldon Cooper), plays everybody else. Not an easy feat, considering the wealth of characters that substantiate the lore! Expect some schizophrenic comedic timing from the actors, especially on the part of Briton – which is what kept audiences laughing in their seats.
THE NITTY GRITTY
The show’s format was a bit limiting though. That it was a parody performed by two actors who obviously had a knack for improv, and that it was set against a backdrop of five static pieces whose design was more spoof than spectacular (a coffin and an island? Really?) left me pining for a little bit more production value.
Drawing from my recollections of the film and the books, it was weird to witness something that wasn’t as spellbinding as one would have hoped and come to expect from anything Potter-related. I realized I might have needed a little more than comedy, puppetry, slideshow, and narration to fuel my imagination.
Instead of an elaborate dragon set piece or a falling chandelier á la Phantom of the Opera, expect dragon puppets, a disco ball, and a storybook LED narration of the events of Book Three, which is the closest thing to a “production value” that the show might have had. Instead of a golden snitch that would fly around and buzz on your eardrums, there is Turner dressed as a gaudy snitch playing tag with two audience volunteers who acted as seekers. Unfortunately, our audience volunteers couldn’t have been any less interested in participating in the sketch (the kids seemed more fascinated with the idea of it all than the actual praxis), which made it borderline excruciating.
As audiences tossed around a Quidditch-looking beach volleyball (they had been hyping this in the press release) in attempts to shoot it through two lit hoops in both sides of the loge area, I wondered if the show would ever undulate from its conceptual rollercoaster low into a more climactic and substantial high. It did, at some point, during moments when audiences and even the actors themselves least expect.
IMPROV x IMPROVEMENT
That’s the thing with improv. When you are able to poke fun at yourself, and then catch yourself off-guard, it’s a winning portal through which the audience is brought in and their affection, strategically won. When Briton and Trainor would break character, either because the gag wasn’t working (they would admit this from time to time), or that they were so caught up in the moment that they’d ended up laughing at themselves, is when I found myself laughing heartily with them, rather than at them and their silly antics.
It’s the kind of comedy that you would experience with the likes of Vice Ganda and his weekly show Gandang Gabi Vice that easily resonates with you as a Filipino. Potted Potter’s comedy, being British in nature and conception á la Monty Python (though I didn’t experience this with Spamalot. Then again, it was a musical), came off as dry at times. But like I said, it’s when they moved away from convention that essence shone through. Still, it makes me wonder: could Filipinos have performed this show, and if so, would they have done it just as well, English accent and all? Then again, that’s show business.
