London Harry Potter Play Will Be A Two-Parter

More details have been released about the Harry Potter play which is to open in London's West End next summer.

Harry Potter And The Cursed Child is based on an original tale part-written by JK Rowling and will feature a grown-up Harry, who now works for the Ministry of Magic.

Publicists for the production said the storyline will "fuse ominously" the past and present.

The play's website says: "It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.

"While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted.

"As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places."

The play will be in two parts which are intended to be seen in order on the same day, or on two consecutive evenings.

An initial 16 weeks of performances will go on sale on 30 October.

The show is likely to be a big success as the appetite for Harry Potter spin-offs appears to show no sign of waning.

Rowling's books have sold over 450 million copies and been translated into 78 languages, while the film franchise based on the books broke box office records.

The new story was a collaboration between Rowling, scriptwriter Jack Thorne and theatre director John Tiffany, who has won awards in London and New York for his work on the musical Once.

"The story only exists because the right group of people came together with a brilliant idea about how to present Harry Potter on stage," Rowling was quoted as saying in a statement from the publicists.

"I'm confident that when audiences see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child they will understand why we chose to tell the story in this way."

The production will open at the Palace Theatre on 30 July, with both parts being performed that day.

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is another wizard spin-off about magizoologist Newt Scamander and is set in New York 70 years before Harry Potter reads his book in school.

Eddie Redmayne will play the lead role and the film is due for release in November 2016.