“Why would you be cruel to someone else? Why would you spoil someone else’s fun?” said Dumezweni in an interview on CBS This Morning, which can be viewed above.
“Apparently, when it comes to literary series, more than anything else in the world, human beings want to read this story, which fundamentally has kindness at the heart of its narrative,” said Parker. “That gives me a lot of hope because it's our narratives and our fictions that allow us to build the institutions by which we can cooperate in gigantic numbers.”
The play won nine Olivier Awards from its West End production and is now nominated for ten Tony Awards, including nominations for Parker and Dumezweni.
The play picks up where the book and film franchise left off—19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts. “If the books are about coming of age and coming into your own as a person, then the next thing is how to become a parent when nobody's really taught you how,” said Parker.
Dumezweni also demonstrates present-day casting philosophies. “My joy is—and it’s the only way I can explain it—is when John Tiffany and Sonia Friedman said we'd love you to do this part. I was like, ‘That's amazing because I had the most extraordinary time in the workshop.’ I love the work that I do. I’m a woman of color and I got the job,” said the actor. “That's the biggest privilege I could have.”
