Cast & Creative Team

J.K. ROWLING is the author of the enduringly popular, era-defining Harry Potter book series, as well as several stand-alone novels and a crime fiction series written under the pen name Robert Galbraith.

The seven Harry Potter books were made into eight smash hit movies, and have now sold over 600 million copies worldwide and been translated into 80 languages. One of the series’ companion volumes written by J.K. Rowling for charity, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, was the inspiration for a new film series, begun in 2016, with screenplays written or co-written by Rowling, the latest of which was released in 2022.

In 2020, she returned to publishing for younger children with her fairy tale The Ickabog, which was serialised for free online during the Covid-19 pandemic. Her most recent children’s novel The Christmas Pig was published in 2021.

Jack Thorne writes for theatre, film, television and radio. His theatre credits include Hopeand Let the Right One In, both directed by John Tiffany, King Kong at the Broadway Theatre, New York, A Christmas Carol and Woyzeckat the Old Vic, Junkyard, a Headlong, Rose Theatre Kingston, Bristol Old Vic and Theatr Clwyd co-production, The Solid Life of Sugar Water for the Graeae Theatre Company and the National Theatre, Bunny for Nabokov/UK tour, Stacy for the Tron, Arcola and Trafalgar Studios, and 2nd May 1997 and When You Cure Me for the Bush. His adaptations include The Physicists for the Donmar Warehouse and Stuart: A Life Backwards for HighTide. On film his credits include Wonder, War Book, A Long Way Down andThe Scouting Book for Boys. For television his credits include Kiri, an episode of Electric Dreams, National Treasure, The Last Panthers, Don’t Take My Baby, This is England, The Fades, Glue and Cast-Offs. In 2017 he won a BAFTA and an RTS Television award for Best Mini-Series (National Treasure). He won BAFTAs in 2016 for Best Mini-Series (This is England ‘90) and Best Single Drama (Don’t Take My Baby), and in 2012 won Best Series (The Fades) and Best Serial (This is England ‘88).

John Tiffany’s recent credits include Pinocchio for the National Theatre and Roadfor the Royal Court, where he is an Associate Director. He directed the musical Once on Broadway, receiving a Tony Award® for Best Director of a Musical, followed by productions in the West End and Melbourne’s Princess Theatre, receiving a Helpmann Award® for Best Direction of a Musical. Other work includes The Glass Menagerie, Let the Right One In andBlack Watch, for which he won an Olivier Award for Best Director. For his work on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, John received an Olivier and Tony Award® for Best Director of a Play. He was Associate Director of the National Theatre of Scotland from 2005 to 2012, and a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University. He is currently working with Björk on Cornucopia, a new production that will premiere in May 2019 at The Shed in NYC.

Steven Hoggett has previously collaborated with John Tiffany on Pinocchio for the National Theatre, The Twits for the Royal Court, Let the Right One In and Black Watch for the National Theatre of Scotland, The Glass Menagerie at A.R.T. and on Broadway, and Once on Broadway and in the West End. Other recent credits include American Idiot, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Last Ship, Rocky the Musical, The Crucible and Angels in America on Broadway; Close to You at NYTW and the Criterion; The Light Princess for the National Theatre; Dr. Dee for the Manchester International Festival; and Rigoletto for the Metropolitan Opera. Hoggett was a founding co-artistic director of Frantic Assembly for which his credits include The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (West End, Broadway, International Tour), Lovesong, Othello, Little Dogs, Beautiful Burnout, Stockholm, Pool (No Water) andDirty Wonderland. His film credits include How to Train Your Dragon 2for Dreamworks and Freak Show for Maven Pictures. With Scott Graham, Steven co-wrote The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre (Routledge).

Christine Jones is an award-winning scenographer and the Artistic Director of the critically-acclaimed Theatre for One in New York. Her West End scenography credits include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Olivier Award), Close to You, Let the Right One In and Spring Awakening. On Broadway her credits include The Cher Show, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Tony Award® for Best Scenic Design of a Play, 2018), American Idiot (Tony Award® for Best Scenic Design of a Musical, 2009), Old Times, Hands on a Hardbody, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever,Every Day Rapture, Spring Awakening, for which she was Tony®-nominated, and The Green Bird directed by Julie Taymor. Jones made her debut at The Metropolitan Opera in 2012 with her designs for Rigoletto and has just opened a new production there of La Traviata. Some of her other designs include The Book of Longing, based on the poems of Leonard Cohen, with music by Philip Glass for the Lincoln Center Festival, Much Ado About Nothing for Shakespeare in the Park and Burn This for Signature Theatre. She directed Queen of the Night, at the Paramount Hotel, which won a Drama Desk Award for Best Unique Experience of 2015, and has an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Set Design.

Katrina Lindsay’s recent costume design credits include The Lehman Trilogy for the National Theatre, Park Avenue Armory NY and West End; Bend It Like Beckham at the Phoenix Theatre (Olivier nomination for Best Costume Design); wonder.land for Manchester International Festival and the National Theatre and American Psycho for the Almeida Theatre and Broadway (Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk nominations for Best Costume Design). She designed costumes for Lyndsey Turner’s production of Hamlet at the Barbican with Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role. She has also designed costumes for many operas including Terry Gilliam’s productions of The Damnation of Faust and Benvenuto Cellini for the English National Opera, which have been performed around the world. As a set and costume designer, Katrina most recently designed Mosquitoes, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Dara and London Road for the National Theatre, See Me Now for the Young Vic and has worked on many shows for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Chichester Festival Theatre and the Almeida amongst others. She was also production designer on the film of London Road. Future set and costume designs include Small Island and Three Sistersat the National Theatre. Katrina won the Olivier and Tony Awards® for her costumes for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and the 2008 Tony®, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Costume Design for Les Liaisons Dangereuses on Broadway. Katrina is an associate of the National Theatre and a recipient of an Arts Foundation Fellowship in Costume Design.

Self-produced British recording artist for over 20 years, Imogen Heap has released five solo albums, another as one half of Frou Frou and collaborated with countless and varied artists including Taylor Swift, Deadmau5, Jeff Beck and Jon Hopkins. Her compositions and songs pop up in blockbuster and indie films as well as countless TV shows, are sampled to the hilt with underground rap and dance music and covered by the likes of Ariana Grande. Heap recognised as an artists’ artist, has won two Grammy® Awards and an Ivor Novello. Her work in music and tech has led to being awarded two honorary doctorates, recognised as a major pioneer in music and technology for her gestural music ware, the MiMu gloves system and her latest and most wildly quoted initiative Mycelia focusing on connecting the dots for a fair and sustainable music industry ecosystem.

Neil Austin’s most recent West End theatre credits include Company, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Red, Travesties, Ink, The Goat, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, The Entertainer, The Winter’s Tale, Photograph 51, Bend It Like Beckham, Shakespeare in Love, Great Britain, Henry V and The Children’s Hour. Austin has also worked extensively for the National Theatre, Donmar Warehouse and Almeida Theatre. On Broadway his credits include Travesties, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Hughie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Evita, Red, Hamlet, The Seafarer and Frost/Nixon. He was the recipient of the 2017 Olivier Award and the 2018 Tony Award® forHarry Potter and the Cursed Child, the 2010 Tony Award® and Drama Desk Award for Red on Broadway, and the 2011 Olivier Award for The White Guard at the National Theatre.

Helpmann®, Olivier and Tony Award®-winning Gareth Fry’s theatre credits include The Encounter for Complicité; The Barber Shop Chronicles for the National Theatre; Let the Right One In and Black Watch for the National Theatre of Scotland and John for DV8. Other credits includeThe Discovery Adventures (podcast); Omay for BBC Radio 3; the David Bowie Is exhibition for the V&A; Lighting the Sails and VIVID Live 2014 for 59 Productions. Gareth designed the sound effects for the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games.

Jamie Harrison’s recent credits include The Magic Flute for Ex Machina presented at the Festival d’Opéra de Québec; Flight by Vox Motus commissioned by Edinburgh International Festival; Pinocchio at the National Theatre; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane; Tomorrow for Brighton Festival; The Wheel and Peter Pan for the National Theatre of Scotland; Dragon for the Edinburgh International Festival; A Christmas Carol and The Cherry Orchard for the Dundee Rep Theatre; A Conversation with Carmel for the Barrowland Ballet.

Martin Lowe’s theatre credits include Pinocchio, Once, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, The Twits, The Light Princess, War Horse, Caroline, or Change, Jerry Springer the Opera, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Mamma Mia!, The Full Monty, Once on this Island, Cats, Les Misérables,Jedermann and The Threepenny Opera (both Salzburg Festival). He won a Tony®, a Grammy® and an Olivier award for his work on Once, and won a Golden Reel award for his work on the film version of Mamma Mia!.

Jim Carnahan is the Director of Artistic Development at New York’s Roundabout Theatre Company. He has cast over 100 productions for the Roundabout and over 50 non-Roundabout Broadway Productions. Recent/upcoming Broadway credits: Moulin Rouge!, Kiss Me, Kate, Tootsie, Burn This, The Ferryman, Head Over Heels, Travesties, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Angels in America, Farinelli and the King, Time and the Conways, 1984, Groundhog Day, The Price, The Cherry Orchard, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, She Loves Me, Noises Off, Fun Home. Off-Broadway: Beast in the Jungle, If I Forget, Love Love Love. Recent London credits include: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Glengarry Glen Ross, Angels in America, The Glass Menagerie, Nice Fish, The Red Barn, Motherf**ker with the Hat, A Streetcar Named Desire. Film: The Seagull, A Home at the End of the World and Flicka. TV: Glee (Emmy® nomination).

Finn Ross designs video for live performance. He’s won two Olivier Awards, a Tony®, three Drama Desk and two Outer Critics Circle Awards. Recent work includes: Frozen (Broadway); Mean Girls (Broadway);The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Broadway/West End/Tour); American Psycho (Broadway/Almedia); Betrayal (Broadway);The Tempest (RSC); The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Royal Opera House); The Nutcracker (Atlanta Ballet); Frankenstein (Royal Ballet); Le Petit Prince (Canadian National Ballet); Jagged Little Pill, In the Body of the World, The Crossing (A.R.T. Boston); Chimerica (Almeida/Pinter);The Death of Klinghoffer, Death in Venice, Onegin, Simon Boccanegra, The Damnation of Faust, Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute (ENO); The Master and Margarita, All My Sons, Shunkin (Complicité); Hänsel und Gretel, A Dog’s Heart, Die Zauberflöte (Netherlands Opera); Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Béatrice et Bénédict, The Turn of the Screw (Theatre an der Wien); Rinaldo, Knight Crew (Glyndebourne).

Ash J Woodward specialises in video and projection design for live performance. Ash works extensively with FRAY Studio as Senior Video Designer and regularly works on a wide range of large scale video design projects. Recent theatre credits as Video and Projection Designer include: The Divide (Old Vic) and Molly(Squint). Associate Designer credits include: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (NT); The Tempest (RSC); Bat Out of Hell (London Coliseum); A Dog’s Heart (De Nationale Opera). Other credits include: You Say You Want a Revolution (V&A); Rolling Stones: Exhibitionism (Saatchi Gallery).

Carole Hancock is a leading UK Hair, Wig and Makeup Designer who works extensively in theatre, film and television worldwide. Her recent work includes: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (West End and Broadway), which won 9 Olivier Awards and 6 Tony® Awards, including Best New Play in both London and Broadway. She was also nominated for a 2018 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Wigs & Hair. Other credits include: Measure for Measure (Donmar Warehouse); Dusty (Directed by Maria Friedman, Theatre Royal Bath); Country Girls (Chichester Theatre); On the Town (Regent’s Park Theatre); One Love (Birmingham Repertory Theatre); Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Children (The Royal Court Theatre); Hamlet(The Barbican); A Christmas Carol, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Sunny Afternoon, Mojo (West End); wonder.land(National Theatre/ Manchester International Festival); Anything Goes (Sheffield Theatre); Versailles (Donmar Warehouse); Handbagged (Tricycle/ Vaudeville Theatre London); Pygmalion (UK Tour); Much Ado About Nothing, Six Degrees of Separation, A Flea in Her Ear (Old Vic Theatre); The Low Road, Love, Love, Love, In Basildon, Chicken Soup and Barley (The Royal Court Theatre); Paperdolls(Tricycle Theatre) and The Most Incredible Thing (Sadler’s Wells). Carole was the Associate Hair and Make-up Designer for The Lion King London and International Productions from 1999-2016. Opera: Mike Leigh’s The Pirates of Penzance, Turandot, The Pearl Fishers, Lucia de Lammermoor (ENO); Cellini, Wozzeck, The Damnation of Faust,The Ring Cycle, Madame Butterfly, Cavelleria & Pagliacci,Candide (UK and Japan). Ballet: Swan Lake (San Francisco Ballet). Fashion: Jasper Conran, Autumn 2008. Film and Television: War Horse, Batman,The Dark Knight Rises, Snow White and the Huntsman, Thor, Captain America and Game of Thrones.

Des Kennedy is the International Associate Director on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child(West End/Broadway/Melbourne). Theatre credits as Director include: Good Vibrations, Gulliver’s Travels, White Star of the North (Lyric, Belfast); Teenage Kicks: A Punk Musical (Derry City of Culture); How the World Began (Out of Joint); Vernon God Little, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Brian Friel Theatre, Belfast); God’s Country (Belfast Festival); Paradise Regained (Belfast-Sarajevo Project); Prophet of Monto (Flea Theatre, New York); Johnny Meister and the Stitch (Mead Theatre Lab, Washington DC); The Great Ramshackle Heart (Public Theater, New York); Dying City (Project Arts Centre, Dublin); The Laramie Project (NSDF, Bush Directing Award); Scenes from the Big Picture (Callan Theatre, Washington) which was named one of the Best 10 Productions of the Decade by the Washington Post in 2010. Associate Director: The Glass Menagerie (West End); Once (Phoenix/Dublin/Seoul Arts Center); The Nether (Duke of York’s); Top Girls, Our Country’s Good, A Dish of Tea with Dr Johnson and Bang Bang Bang (Out of Joint). Assistant Director: Now or Later (Royal Court); Crooked (Bush) and The Elixir of Love (WNO). Television: 6 Degrees (BBC Northern Ireland).

Brett J. Banakis is a set designer for theatre and live performance based in Brooklyn, New York. Brett is excited to continue his long-term professional collaboration with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Set Designer, Christine Jones. Co-designs with Christine include The Cher Show (Broadway); Close To You (West End); What’s It All About? (NYTW) and Whorl Inside a Loop (Second Stage). Brett’s recent NY credits include Big Love (Signature Theater, Lortel and Hewes Nominations); Renascence (Transport Group), and Ghost Light (LCT3). As Associate Set Designer: The Glass Menagerie, Old Times, Doctor Zhivago, The Last Ship, If/Then, Hands on a Hardbody and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (all on Broadway); Let the Right One In (National Theatre of Scotland) as well as Rigoletto and La Traviata (Metropolitan Opera, NY).

Sabine Lemaître is a Costume Design Supervisor for theatre, ballet, and opera.

Working with theatre companies including The Royal Opera, Royal Ballet, National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Sadlers Wells, and English National Opera.

Sabine is also the International Costume Design Associate for the critically acclaimed global production HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD in London, New York, Melbourne, San Francisco, Hamburg, Toronto, and Tokyo. 

Theatre includes: Hamlet, starring Benedict Cumberbatch (Barbican); Mosquitoes, starring Olivia Coleman, (National Theatre) Hex, Wonder.Land  (Damian Albarn /NT), Dara, Behind the Beautiful Forevers (National Theatre), The Magistrate starring John Lithgow (National Theatre), Earthquakes in London (National Theatre) , Death and The King’s Horseman (National Theatre) , Rafta Rafta (National Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing (RSC/Coward); Medea starring Fiona shaw (Queens Theatre); Love for Love, Loves Sacrifice, Wendy & Peter Pan, All’s Well That Ends Well (RSC) , Titus Andronicus (RSC), Much Ado About Nothing (RSC), Morte D’Arthur (RSC),  A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC), The Heresy of Love (RSC), House of Desires (RSC), A Comedy of Errors (RSC); Blood Wedding (Rufus Norris/ Almeida); Cabaret (Rufus Norris/ Lyric Theatre); Porgy & Bess (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre). Onassis starring Robert Lindsay (Novello/ Chichester Festival Theatre);

Dance includes: Pet Shop boys – The Most Incredible Thing (Sadlers Wells), Eternal Damnation of Sancho & Sanchez (Sadler’s Wells); Anemoi (Royal Ballet), Chroma (Royal Ballet/ McGregor), Infra (Royal Ballet/ McGregor), Les Enfant terribles (Royal Ballet & Opera), Dances are a Gathering, (Royal Ballet), Castle Nowhere (Royal Ballet); Beyond the Tempest (Royal Ballet), Faeries (Tuckett/ Royal Opera House) and Thief of Bagdad (Will Tuckett/ Royal Opera House).

Opera includes: Dr Dee (Damon Albarn MIF/ENO), Eugene Onegin (Royal Opera), Così Fan Tutte (Royal Opera), La Traviata (Royal Opera), Il Trovatore (Royal Opera), Semele (Royal Opera), Jenufa (Royal Opera), Der Fliegende Holländer (Royal Opera); The Damnation of Faust (Terry Gilliam/English National Opera), Turandot (Goold/English National Opera), Pirates of Penzance (Elijah Moshinsky/ENO), Die Tote Stadt ( NNT Tokyo)

Editorial; US Vogue Dec 2015 (Lindsay & Coddington/Mert & Marcus), ‘Victoria’ shoot US Vogue Jan 2016 (Corbijn /Posnik & Ebbutt)

Nick Solyom’s recent lighting design credits include Imaginary Comforts by Daniel Handler, directed by Tony Taccone at Berkeley Rep; The Christians by Lucas Hnath, directed by Kristen Coury at Gulfshore Playhouse; and The Prince of Players by Carlisle Floyd, directed by Philip Shneidman at The Kaye Playhouse. Nick’s Broadway associate lighting design credits include The Waverly Gallery, Lighting Design by Brian MacDevitt, Bernhardt/Hamlet, lighting design by Bradley King, Amélie, lighting design by Jane Cox and Mark Barton; and Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, lighting design by Bradley King. Nick’s Broadway assistant lighting design credits include Finding Neverland, If/Then and Cinderella, lighting design by Ken Posner.

Recent credits include: The Unreturning for Frantic Assembly; Death of a Salesman for the Royal Exchange; Pity for the Royal Court; The Tempest for the Donmar Warehouse; The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca for Hull City of Culture; The Kid Stays in the Picture for Complicité at The Royal Court; The Encounter (co-designed with Gareth Fry) – Winner of Special Tony® and Drama Desk Awards for Sound Design, also winner of the Helpmann Award® for Best Sound Design for Complicité; Beware of Pity for Complicité and the Schaubühne Theatre Berlin; Twelfth Night for the Royal Exchange, Manchester; Am I Dead Yet? and The Noise (the latter co-designed with Gareth Fry) for Unlimited Theatre; Andrea Chénier for Opera North at the Leeds Grand Theatre; SUN for the National Art Service; Space Junk for Gameshow at the Lyric, Hammersmith;Farragut North at the Southwark Playhouse. Credits as Associate Sound Designer include Oresteia at the Trafalgar Studios; 1984 for Headlong at the Almeida and Playhouse Theatre; Complicité’s productions of The Magic Flute with ENO and Lionboy and Hamlet for the RSC. Other credits include: Katie Mitchell’s productions of The Forbidden Zone at the Salzburg Festival and Night Train in Cologne (as Assistant); and the 2012 London Olympics Opening Ceremony (as Assistant Soundscape Designer).

Chris Fisher is a member of The Magic Circle. He works worldwide as International Illusions and Magic Associate for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. His work in theatre as illusion designer includes Peter Gynt, Here We Go, Treasure Island, Julie and Angels in America (also on Broadway) at the National Theatre; Charlie & the Chocolate Factory at Leeds Playhouse & UK Tour; The Time Travellers Wife at Storyhouse; Back To The Future: The Musical (Adelphi Theatre, London); The Prince of Egypt (Dominion Theatre); The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (UK Tour/West End); 2.22 A Ghost Story (Noel Coward, London, LA); Wicked Das Musical at Neue Flora Theater, Hamburg; Company (Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, NY & Gielgud, London); Merlin for Nothern Ballet; Bedknobs & Broomsticks (UK Tour); Superhero at the Tony Kiser, New York; A Very Very Very Dark Matter at the Bridge;  Macbeth and The Alchemist for the RSC at the Swan and the Barbican; Barnum at Menier Chocolate Factory; The Hypocrite for the RSC at the Swan and Hull Truck; Big the Musical at Plymouth Theatre Royal and the Bord Gáis Energy; No Man’s Land at Wyndham’s; Into the Woods and The Skriker at the Royal Exchange; Xanadu at Southwark Playhouse; and Company in the West End. As illusions associate work includes Pinocchio at the National; The Magic Flute at Opera de Quebec; and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in the West End.

Director of Gary Beestone Events & Theatre, which provides production and project management for theatre internationally, and for a wide range of outdoor spectacles and events. Gary developed the original production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child with the creative team. Current Events include: the opening event for Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Walthamstow Borough of culture. Current Projects include overseeing the renovation of The Curran Theatre in San Francisco and the Mehr! Theater am Großmarkt in Hamburg.

Production Stage Manager for the Sochi 2014 Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies, London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Ceremonies, Olympic Ceremonies for Vancouver 2010, Torino 2006 and Athens 2004, and Olympic Handover Ceremony in Beijing 2008. Other events include: the Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony in London 2015, the Great North Run Opening Ceremony in Newcastle 2014, 90th Birthday Celebrations for Nelson Mandela in London 2008, the Royal Gala Launch for St Pancras International in 2007, Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester 2002 and the Opening Ceremony of the Millennium Dome in London. Theatre credits include the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in London 2016 and the Broadway opening in 2018, The Lord of the Rings, Sister Act, My Fair Lady, Hey! Mr. Producer, Les Misérables, Miss Saigon, Chess, 42nd Street, Cats and Little Shop of Horrors.

Naomi Edwards is a theatre and opera director and teaching artist. Recent credits include: Can You Hear Colour? (Patch Theatre/Adelaide Festival); Yo Diddle Diddle (Patch Theatre); Peter and The Wolf with Miriam Margoyles and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (Adelaide Festival/Foxtel); The Waiting Room (Melbourne Theatre Company); The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show; Cautionary Tales for Children (Arena Theatre) nominated for the Helpmann Award® for Best Children’s Production; Hamlet, Actor on a Box (Sydney Theatre Company); The Season at Sarsaparilla, Who’s Afraid of The Working Class, Traps (VCA); Rabbit Hole (Red Stitch Theatre); Falling Awake (Milkcrate Theatre); How To Kill Your Husband, Noye’s Fludde (Victorian Opera); Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, The Magic Flute, The Barber of Seville (Opera Australia Schools); Actors at Work (Bell Shakespeare). As Resident Director: Rigoletto, Don Pasquale, Carmen, Lakmé (Opera Australia). As Assistant Director: In The Next Room or The Vibrator Play, Don’s Party, Poor Boy (Sydney Theatre Company/Melbourne Theatre Company); August: Osage County, Ninety (Melbourne Theatre Company). As Artistic Director: Patch Theatre Company. Creative Director: Wish Three More Wishes (Cochlear Implant Vocal empowerment ARC Research Project); Future Makers (Music Viva). Naomi Edwards was awarded The Gloria Dawn/ Gloria Payten Fellowships and co-authored a Platform Paper on the value of Arts Education.

Gavan Swift graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1994. He has been in constant demand as a lighting designer for plays, musicals, dance and corporate events. His musical lighting designs include Heathers the Musical, Mamma Mia!, Mack and Mabel, The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, Hot Shoe Shuffle, Little Shop of Horrors, Sweet Charity, Fiddler on the Roof, Jolson, Buddy, Oh! What A Night, Footloose, Hair, Xanadu and Saturday Night Fever both in Australia and on London’s West End. Gavan was the lighting designer for Moby Dick for the San Francisco Opera, Washington National Opera, LA Opera and Dallas Opera. He has also designed the lighting for the Production Company’s concert versions of Anything Goes, Sugar (Some Like it Hot), The Music Man, Hair, Mack and Mabel and their inaugural production of Mame. For the State Theatre Company of South Australia he has designed The Ham Funeral, Three Sisters (co-set designer), Entertaining Mr. Sloane, King Lear andHamlet. For Bell Shakespeare Gavan has designed the lighting for The Winter’s Tale, Pericles and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Gavan has also designed lighting for productions at Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Ensemble Theatre, Australian Theatre for Young People, Marian St, and the Q Theatre. Gavan was the Associate Lighting Designer for the Australian productions of The Book of Mormon, Aladdin, Cabaret, The Full Monty, Chicago, High School Musical, A Chorus Line, South Pacific, Wicked andThe Lion King, as well as the London production of A Chorus Line and the Mexican production of Wicked.

David Tonion is a freelance Sound Designer and Production Engineer. Previously with System Sound, David was involved with many productions beginning with Miss Saigon (Australian Premiere), and then West Side Story (Australia & New Zealand tour), Sweet Charity, The Boy from Oz (Australian Premiere), Popcorn, Cats (Australia Regional Tent tour), Miss Saigon (Hong Kong & Singapore tour, Australia tour, South Korea), Oliver! (Australia & Singapore tour), We Will Rock You (Australia & Japan tour), Guys and Dolls (Melbourne), Billy Elliot (Melbourne), Mary Poppins (Australia & New Zealand tour),The Addams Family (Sydney), Once (Melbourne), Kinky Boots (Melbourne),The Book of Mormon (Melbourne). As Associate Sound Design: Miss Saigon (South Korea tour), Moonshadow (Melbourne), Strictly Ballroom (Australia tour). As Sound Design/Co-Design: Defying Gravity (Sydney), The Mousetrap (Australia & New Zealand tour), A Murder is Announced (Australia tour), Anything Goes, Kismet, Chess (Green Room Award Recipient), Gypsy, West Side Story (Green Room Award Recipient), Nice Work If You Can Get It, Jerry’s Girls, Funny Girl, Jesus Christ Superstar, Brigadoon (TPC Melbourne). As Freelance Production Engineer: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Australia tour).

Jude Loxley graduated from the Costume Production Crafts course at NIDA in 2007. Prior to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Jude has worked extensively with Michael Cassel Group, costume supervising the Australian Premiere of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (2017), Kinky Boots (2016), and the International Tour of Les Misérables (2016), following on from her role assisting the Costume Supervisor from 2013-2015. In addition to this, Jude has costume supervised Les Misérables internationally, with Cameron Mackintosh Limited, in Mexico City (2018), São Paulo (2017), Tokyo (2015) and Seoul (2015). Other shows she has costume supervised include Mamma Mia! (LWAA, 2017), Fawlty Towers Live (LWAA, 2016), and the 2015 Bell Shakespeare season (As You Like It, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest).

Kylie Clarke is renowned for her theatrical and film supervision, wig-making and design. Nominated in Hollywood for the Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist guild awards and part of the core Oscar®-winning Mad Max Hair and Makeup Team. Associate Wig, Hair and Makeup Designer on blockbuster hits such as Matilda and Billy Elliot for Japan and Korea as well as Supervisor for Michael Cassel Group productions such as Les Misérables, Kinky Boots and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Further lists of artistic credits include: Les Misérables Wig, Hair and Makeup Supervisor – Brazil and Mexico, School of Rock, Aladdin, Mamma Mia!, Muriel’s Wedding, Fawlty Towers, Hot Shoe Shuffle, Love Never Dies, Strictly Ballroom, Dirty Dancing and Hairspray.

Lee Cohen is a stage and parlour magician, event manager, magic teacher and creative consultant for theatre, live events, concerts, television and film. Credits and highlights include President of the Australian Institute of Magic and FISM Oceania (2012-2017); Judge for FISM Africa (2012); Production Manager of the Australian Junior Championships of Magic (2009-2019); Host of the Australian Junior Championship of Magic (Arts Centre Melbourne 2018, 2019); Lee has provided magic consultation for Wentworth (Fremantle Australia); Facilitator of The Magic Workshop at The Channel, Arts Centre Melbourne and has been a teacher at the College of Magic in Cape Town, South Africa (2012). Lee formed MESMA (Melbourne School of Magical Arts) providing magic consultation for creative projects and teaching magic with a focus on building confidence, interpersonal and performance skills through the magical arts.

Training: Victorian College of the Arts, Bachelor of Arts (Acting) 2011.

Theatre/Opera: John Proctor in The Crucible (Complete Works Theatre Company); Hotel Inspector/Taxi Driver/Ensemble in Fawlty Towers – Live (Phil McIntyre Entertainments); Joey/Topthorne Head in War Horse (National Theatre of Great Britain/Global Creatures); Terry in The 26-Storey Treehouse National Tour (CDP Theatre Producers); Nate/Liam in Fierce (Theatreworks); Various in Before I Fell Asleep (ArtPlay); Various in You the Man (Deakin); Gordon in Hose (MKA Theatre).

Proud Member of Actor’s Equity since 2005.

Sophie Jones started her career in London’s West End in 1992. She has worked on a large range of international projects specialising as a Prop, Mask and Puppet Supervisor. Credits include Beauty and the Beast, War Horse, Mamma Mia!, Miss Saigon, Matilda, Love Never Dies, Aladdin, The Lion King, which she set up in London, Australia, Shanghai, Paris, South Africa and Manila, Billy Elliot on Broadway, Australia, Japan, London and Korea and most recently, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Operating as Epoch Productions Pty Ltd, Cameron Flint has provided technical direction services for numerous Australian and international touring productions. Recent credits include: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child; Beautiful: The Carole King Musical; The Book of Mormon; Kinky Boots; Les Misérables; Once; Wicked and Driving Miss Daisy. Cameron has also overseen the Princess Theatre interior refurbishment.

Janine Snape is currently Casting Director at Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC). Theatre: for MTC includes Twelfth Night, The Architect, A Doll’s House,Part 2, Vivid White, Hay Fever, Macbeth, Jasper Jones, The Odd Couple, North by Northwest, Miss Julie,Birdland, What Rhymes with Cars and Girls, The Speechmaker. UK: Snape worked in casting at the Royal Shakespeare Company from 2004-2012 and in freelance theatre and screen casting. Selected RSC credits include Julius Caesar (also filmed for BBC/ Illuminations), I, Cinna the Poet,King John, Richard III, The Heart of Robin Hood, The Tempest, The Thirteen Midnight Challenges of Angelus Diablo, Days of Significance. Freelance theatre credits include: 2000 Feet Away (Bush Theatre), Faustus (Headlong/ Tour),Tiger Tail (Nuffield Theatre),The Wages of Thin, (Old Red Lion), The Mountaintop (as Casting Advisor, Theatre 503/ Trafalgar), Hangover Square (Finborough). As Associate, screen includes: Black Sails (Starz), Dracula (NBC/Sky),Reign (CW), The Adventurer: Curse of the Midas Box. Snape is a member of The Casting Directors’ Guild of Great Britain and Ireland and the Casting Guild of Australia.

Max Bittleston initially joined SFP in 2014 and for over half a decade collaborated with a wide variety of artists and producers on a number of Olivier and Tony Award-winning shows. Specific highlights include The Jungle (London, New York & San Francisco), The Book of Mormon (Prince of Wales Theatre, London & Worldwide), Hamlet starring Benedict Cumberbatch (Barbican, London), Dreamgirls (Savoy Theatre, London), The Ferryman (Gielgud Theatre, London), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? starring Imelda Staunton & Conleth Hill (Harold Pinter Theatre, London) and All About Eve starring Gillian Anderson & Lily James (Noel Coward Theatre, London). Between 2019 and 2021, Max worked as a Producer for the award-winning 59 Productions, where he led design teams creating a number of unique digital presentations combining art and technology. Max re-joined SFP in 2021. Prior to 2014, Max worked as an independent Producer with shows at the Finborough Theatre, the Arcola Theatre and the Whitstable Playhouse.

Pam Skinner joined Sonia Friedman Productions in 2007 and has since been privileged to work closely on many of its award winning plays and musicals both in London and on Broadway including; La Cage Aux Folles, Legally Blonde, The Book of Mormon, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunny Afternoon, Shakespeare In Love, Bend It Like Beckham, Funny Girl and Dreamgirls. As Executive Producer for Sonia Friedman Productions, she oversees the multi-award winning Harry Potter and the Cursed Child worldwide. Before joining SFP, Pam worked for twelve years at the Really Useful Group in London and Europe. During her time at RUG she supervised over twenty major Really Useful productions in London, Europe, Mexico, Brazil and North America.

Diane Benjamin initially joined Sonia Friedman Productions part-time when it was first established in 2002, with just a team of four. She worked as Business Affairs Manager for SFP as well as the Ambassador Theatre Group from 2001 to 2005, prior to which she set up and ran the National Theatre’s Contracts Department from 1987 to 2001. Diane joined SFP full-time in 2005 as Executive Director and has worked on all its productions – over 160 – in the West End and on Broadway. She now also works on the company’s expansion with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child into Melbourne, San Francisco and Hamburg.

For HPCC Group Ltd

Chief Marketing Officer – Krista Tuchscherer

Director of Content and Special Projects – Shannon Kingett

For Melbourne

Melbourne Marketing Director – Kendra Reid

Ticketing Director – Scott Gainsburg

Press and PR – Nathanael Cooper

Marketing and Advertising – Anthem

Marketing and Social Media Manager – Sophie Inkster

SONIA FRIEDMAN PRODUCTIONS (SFP) is an international production company responsible for some of the most successful theatre productions in London and New York.

SONIA FRIEDMAN PRODUCTIONS has developed, initiated and been lead producer of over 180 new productions and together the company has been responsible for winning 58 Olivier Awards, 34 Tonys and 2 BAFTAs.

In 2019, Sonia Friedman OBE was awarded ‘Producer of the Year’ at the Stage Awards for a record breaking fourth time. In 2018, Friedman was also featured in TIME 100, a list of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. In 2017 she took the number one spot in ‘The Stage 100’, becoming the first number one in the history of the compilation not to own or operate West End theatres and the first solo woman for almost 20 years.

Current productions include: The Book of Mormon, West End and UK and Europe tour, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, London, New York, Melbourne, San Francisco and Hamburg Mean Girls US tour; To Kill a Mockingbird, London; The 47th, London; Jerusalem, London; Funny Girl, New York and Dreamgirls UK tour.

Forthcoming productions include: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in Toronto and Tokyo; Oklahoma!London; Merrily We Roll Along, New York; The Doctor, UK tour and London; The Piano Lesson, New York and Leopoldstadt, New York.

Previous theatre productions include: The Human Voice, The Shark is Broken, Leopoldstadt, Anna X, Walden and J’Ouvert as part of the Re:Emerge season, The Comeback, Uncle Vanya, Mean Girls (Broadway), Fiddler on the Roof, Rosmersholm, The Ferryman, The Inheritance, Summer and Smoke, Dreamgirls, The Jungle, All About Eve, Consent, The Birthday Party, Ink, Hamlet starring Andrew Scott, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour,Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Travesties, The Glass Menagerie, Nice Fish, A Christmas Carol, Funny Girl, Farinelli and The King, Hamlet starring Benedict Cumberbatch, 1984, Sunny Afternoon, Bend It Like Beckham, The Nether, The River, Electra, King Charles III, Shakespeare in Love, Ghosts, Mojo, Chimerica, Merrily We Roll Along, Old Times, Twelfth Night and Richard III, A Chorus of Disapproval, The Sunshine Boys, Hay Fever, Absent Friends, Top Girls, Betrayal, Much Ado About Nothing, Clybourne Park, The Children’s Hour, A Flea in Her Ear, La Bête, All My Sons, Private Lives, Jerusalem, A Little Night Music, Legally Blonde, Othello, Arcadia, The Mountaintop, The Norman Conquests, A View From the Bridge, Dancing at Lughnasa, Maria Friedman: Re-Arranged, La Cage aux Folles, No Man’s Land, The Seagull, Under the Blue Sky, That Face, Dealer’s Choice, Hergé’s Adventures of Tintin, In Celebration, Boeing-Boeing, The Dumb Waiter, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Love Song, Faith Healer, Bent, Eh Joe, Donkeys’ Years, Otherwise Engaged, In Celebration, Shoot the Crow, As You Like It, The Home Place, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, By the Bog of Cats, The Woman in White, Guantanamo: ‘Honor Bound to Defend Freedom’, Endgame, Jumpers, See You Next Tuesday, Hitchcock Blonde, Absolutely! {Perhaps}, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Ragtime, Macbeth, What the Night Is For, Afterplay, Up for Grabs, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Noises Off, On an Average Day, A Servant to Two Masters, Port Authority, Spoonface Steinberg and Speed-The-Plow.

TV productions include: Wolf Hall, Uncle Vanya, J’Ouvert (BBC), Walden and Anna X (Sky Arts) (Co-Producer), The Dresser, King Lear (Exec Producer), Dennis Kelly’s Together (BBC) (Producer). For cinema, Uncle Vanya and Walden. SFP’s productions of Hamlet, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? All About Eve and Leopoldstadt have been filmed for cinema release by NT Live, with All About Eve, Hamlet and Leopoldstadt featuring on NT at Home and Hamlet on Amazon’s Great British Theatre series.

For full details of SFP’s theatre productions, please visit soniafriedman.com.
Twitter: @SFP_London Instagram: @sfpofficial Facebook: /SoniaFriedmanProductions

SONIA FRIEDMAN PRODUCTIONS (SFP) is an international production company responsible for some of the most successful theatre productions in London and New York.

Since 1990, SFP has developed, initiated and produced over 170 new productions and together the company has won a staggering 55 Olivier Awards, 30 Tonys and 2 BAFTAs.

In 2019, Sonia Friedman OBE was awarded ‘Producer of the Year’ at the Stage Awards for a record breaking fourth time. In 2018, Friedman was also featured in TIME 100, a list of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. In 2017 she took the number one spot in ‘The Stage 100’, becoming the first number one in the history of the compilation not to own or operate West End theatres and the first solo woman for almost 20 years.

Current productions include: the UK premiere of The Book of Mormon, West End and UK & European tour, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in London, New York, Melbourne & San Francisco, Mean Girls at the August Wilson Theatre, New York, and The Inheritance, New York, Uncle Vanya, at Harold Pinter Theatre, London.

Forthcoming productions include: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in Hamburg & Toronto, the world premiere of Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt at Wyndham’s Theatre, London, To Kill a Mockingbird at the Gielgud Theatre, London, The Watsons at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London, The Doctor at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London, Semmelweis starring Mark Rylance at Bristol Old Vic, Hamlet at Park Avenue Armory, New York, Oresteia at Park Avenue Armory, New York, Dreamgirls UK Tour, Sunny Afternoon UK Tour, and Oedipus starring Helen Mirren and Mark Strong,

Previous theatre productions include: Fiddler on the Roof, Rosmersholm, The Ferryman, The Inheritance, Summer and Smoke, Dreamgirls, The Jungle, All About Eve, Consent, The Birthday Party, Ink, Hamlet starring Andrew Scott, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Travesties, The Glass Menagerie, Nice Fish, A Christmas Carol, Funny Girl, Farinelli and The King, Hamlet starring Benedict Cumberbatch, 1984, Sunny Afternoon, Bend It Like Beckham, The Nether, The River, Electra, King Charles III, Shakespeare in Love, Ghosts, Mojo, Chimerica, Merrily We Roll Along, Old Times, Twelfth Night and Richard III, A Chorus of Disapproval, The Sunshine Boys, Hay Fever, Absent Friends, Top Girls, Betrayal, Much Ado About Nothing, Clybourne Park, The Children’s Hour, A Flea in Her Ear, La Bête, All My Sons, Private Lives, Jerusalem, A Little Night Music, Legally Blonde, Othello, Arcadia, The Mountaintop, The Norman Conquests, A View From the Bridge, Dancing at Lughnasa, Maria Friedman: Re-Arranged, La Cage aux Folles, No Man’s Land, The Seagull, Under the Blue Sky, That Face, Dealer’s Choice, Hergés Adventures of Tintin, In Celebration, Boeing-Boeing, The Dumb Waiter, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Love Song, Faith Healer, Bent, Eh Joe, Donkeys’ Years, Otherwise Engaged, Celebration, Shoot the Crow, As You Like It, The Home Place, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, By the Bog of Cats, The Woman in White, Guantanamo: ‘Honor Bound to Defend Freedom’, Endgame, Jumpers, See You Next Tuesday, Hitchcock Blonde, Absolutely! {Perhaps}, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Ragtime, Macbeth, What the Night Is For, Afterplay, Up for Grabs, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Noises Off, On an Average Day, A Servant to Two Masters, Port Authority, Spoonface Steinberg and Speed-The-Plow.

TV productions include BBC’s Wolf Hall (co-producer), The Dresser (Exec Producer) and King Lear with Anthony Hopkins (Exec Producer).

For full details of SFP’s theatre productions, please visit soniafriedman.com.

Sir Colin Callender CBE is Chairman of Playground LLC, a theatre and television production company he founded in 2012 based in New York and London.

Playground’s Broadway productions include: Nora Ephron’s Tony nominated Lucky Guy directed by George C. Wolfe starring Tom Hanks in his Broadway debut, Harvey Fierstein’s Tony-nominated Casa Valentina directed by Joe Mantello, the Tony Award-winning revival of musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Kenneth Branagh and Rob Ashford’s critically-acclaimed production of Macbeth at The Park Avenue Armory in New York, and the Tony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen.

Television productions include: the BAFTA and Golden Globe winning six-part BBC miniseries Wolf Hall directed by Peter Kosminsky starring Mark Rylance, Damian Lewis and Claire Foy, Richard Eyre’s acclaimed adaptation of Ronald Harwood’s The Dresser for the BBC starring Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins, Kenneth Lonergan’s award-winning adaptation of EM Forster’s Howards End for the BBC and Starz, Heidi Thomas’s adaptation of Little Women for the BBC and Masterpiece on PBS, Richard Eyre’s acclaimed adaptation of King Lear starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson for BBC and Amazon Prime Video, Lucy Kirkwood’s adaptation of her Olivier Award-winning play Chimerica for Channel 4 and, most recently, the hit adaptation of James Herriot’s All Creatures Great & Small for Channel 5 and Masterpiece on PBS. Upcoming television productions include a new adaptation of Dangerous Liasons written by Harriet Warner for Starz, and political thriller The Undeclared War from seven-time BAFTA winning writer/director Peter Kosminsky for Channel 4 and Peacock.

Callender began his career as stage manager at London’s Royal Court Theatre working with David Hare and Sam Shepard. He won an Emmy for his work as producer of the television adaptation of the RSC’s The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby for Channel 4, a Tony Award for Hedwig and the Angry Inch and a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award for Wolf Hall. As the long-time president of HBO Films, he was responsible for an unprecedented award-winning slate of movies and miniseries, including Mike Nichols’ celebrated adaptation of Angels in America starring Al Pacino, Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson, and Gus van Sant’s Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner, Elephant.

Callender is a Trustee of the New York Public Theater and the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He received a Knighthood in the Queen’s 2016 New Year’s Honours list for his services to British film, theatre and television in the US.

For full details of Playground’s television and theatre productions, please visit playgroundentertainment.com

Harry Potter Theatrical Productions Ltd was founded by J.K. Rowling and Neil Blair in 2013 to develop and produce the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany. The team from Harry Potter Theatrical Productions Ltd have worked closely with Sonia Friedman Productions and Colin Callender to produce the play, and also in controlling the international rights for the production.

Michael Cassel is an internationally recognised producer and entertainment executive. He formed the Michael Cassel Group in 2012.

Michael is the Executive Producer of the Australian premiere production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child playing exclusively in Melbourne at the Princess Theatre. The record-breaking play is produced by Sonia Friedman, Colin Callender and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions.
Michael is Co-Producer, with Jeffrey Seller, of the Australasian premiere production of Hamilton at the Sydney Lyric Theatre.

Michael is also Producer of the first international touring production of Disney’s The Lion King, which has enjoyed triumphant seasons in Manila, Singapore, Daegu, Seoul, Busan, Taipei, Bangkok and Hong Kong. 

Previous productions include the Australian and international tour of Les Misérables, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, the 10^th Anniversary Tour of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the Australian premiere of Cyndi Lauper’s Kinky Boots and the Australian and Asian tour of Singin’ in the Rain. Concerts and events include The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium, the opening celebration of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and tours including Celeste Barber, Lea Salonga, Tina Arena, Rita Wilson and Darren Criss. Broadway and West End co-producer credits include DreamWorks’ The Prince of Egypt, Pretty Woman: The Musical and The Cher Show.

In addition to his theatrical interests, Michael exclusively represents former Australian Prime Minister, The Hon. Julia Gillard AC, former Olympian and global sporting administrator, Lord Sebastian Coe CH, KBE, broadcaster and journalist Liz Hayes and media personality, Sami Lukis.

During his ten-year tenure with Disney Theatrical Group, he oversaw the company’s Broadway stage productions in international markets including The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, AIDA, The Little Mermaid and High School Musical, as well as supporting Disney on Ice and Disney Live! licensed to Feld Entertainment.

Michael began his professional career working with Australia’s legendary producer and celebrity manager, Harry M. Miller.

Michael lives in Sydney with his wife Camille and their children Eveleigh and Vaughn.