By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereporter.com
These hogs have no warts, but they should. That’s because Puffs is NOT a play about Harry Potter. It is, rather, a play that is Harry Potter adjacent. Main Street Productions (MSP) is taking audiences to Not-Hogwarts so they can enjoy a story spanning seven years in the lives of three Not-Hufflepuffs.
Puffs opens this week at Basile Westfield Playhouse, 220 N. Union St., and The Reporter spoke with MSP Director Amber K. Roth about what audience will (and will not) see in a play that will entertain while making sure Warner Bros. Entertainment doesn’t send out the Not-Dementor legal team.
Photo by Rob Slaven / IndyGhostLight.com
“Puffs is kind of a combination of slapstick comedy meets farce where we follow a group of [not] Hufflepuffs during seven years at [not] Hogwarts when [not] Harry is there,” Roth said.
This play is a story of young wizards in school with a prima donna who is sometimes called “Harry” and sometimes “Mr. Potter,” but never ever “Harry Potter.”
“Our Harry is taking that prima donna essence and really running with it,” Roth said. “We are following three ‘Puffs’ that are kind of a take on the trio that we see in in the Harry Potter world. We follow them, but we have Harry pop in once in a while to bring some comedic relief, and to see how they would interact with Harry. But, truly, this is a story that follows those three.”
While the trio in this play pay homage to characters in the J.K. Rowling books and films, they are still very much their own characters.
One of those characters is Oliver, a math-savant turned barely average aspiring wizard.
“He was going to be the youngest math savant at Oxford, starting at 11 years old, and now he is an entry beginner wizard who is not great at magic,” Roth said. “Hs going to a lot of remediation classes for magic. Seeing that flip from him being top of his class to basically bottom of his class and learning how to work his way up is something that’s fun and a good challenge for some of our performers.”
Roth told The Reporter one of the biggest casting challenges was casting the protagonist, Wayne.
“He’s a character that goes through a lot of emotions and a lot of trials,” Roth said. “He’s an orphan. Whenever he first gets brought up and introduced, he is very similar to Harry, but seeing the bubbliness of it while also mixing the right solemnness of the character – I would say is something that’s hard for any actor really. The performer that we were able to find – who played that the way that we needed it to – that was our biggest worry.”
Roth said she found exactly the cast she needed to entertain and amuse audiences.
“If you are a fan of the books or the movies and you love having a good laugh, definitely come out and see the show,” Roth said. “It’s something that is a great homage to while still having its originality for all to enjoy.”
You can see Puffs: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic on stage July 17 to 27 at Basile Westfield Playhouse, 220 N. Union St. Go to basilewestfieldplayhouse.org/showstickets or call (317) 402-3341 for tickets.
You need to get your seats fast. As if by magic, opening night is already sold out!
For those with health concerns, it should be noted that fog machines will be used and some of the effects indicating spellcasting involve flashing lights.