The Shrieking Shack

Cursed Child Part Two Part One (Act 3)

Wowza! This act is A Lot, but we are not immune to its charms. In the world of Evil Hogwarts, only the campiest survive... and even then some of them don't! We chat about the refreshing return to the tongue-in-cheek lower stakes presentation of the early novels that this play provides, as well as the few odd moments where it fumbles by reminding us that the series became Very Serious. We also have a blazing fast Evil Draco redemption arc, a Snape vs Umbridge title fight, and something called the Blood Ball... which we can only hope gets more time in the play itself. Finally, Liz takes us through an incredibly funny article from one of our favorite websites that is still Extremely Mad about this play all these years later.

Cursed Child Part One Act Two Part Two...?

The final segment of the first part of the play--really, the first play--has some rocky moments, but it ends in such an incredible fashion it more than makes up for it. It's quite a roller coaster either way--a weird ghost, a lot of Bagman, and a fight scene written just for the Drarryheads in the audience. Plus: A third segment so unbelievably radioactive it even makes ME mad. Me! The person who chose it!!

(side note: my audio is really hot this week so apologies for the crunchy quality in spots. I got a new audio interface recently and hadn't properly dialed things in before recording!)

Cursed Child Part One Act Two Part One (I think I got that right...)

We're back with more play talk! This week at the theatre, we read a segment of the stage show that has some high highs and low lows. The weird Dark Dursleys scene? Low. Seeing Ludo Bagman again? High. The play's treatment of Padma? Very low. The mere concept of something called "Voldemort Day?" High. All this and much more; plus, a third segment so (appropriately) cursed it could only be topped by what I found for next episode's third segment...

(content warning, if you'd rather not hear the discussion about the show's strangely dark take on book 1's Privet Drive stuff, skip from 29 mins in to 38 mins in)

Part two of part one of act one... the next bit of the play. The first play. Of the two plays that make up the one play, The Cursed Child.

We very nearly didn't finish this one thanks to some nasty Audacity file corruption, but thanks to some heroics you get to hear this nearly-lost episode! We discuss the second chunk of our first reading, which includes the Trolley Witch scene, lots of Boring Adults standing around and talking about newspapers, and further developments in the time-travel sex mystery.

After that, we travel back in time ourselves to read the comments on the subreddit that were being posted as leaks and reactions from the initial play previews were hitting the web. There's a mix of understandable disappointment from people who bought the marketing hook line and sinker, outright histrionics, and one theory about Voldemort and Draco's time situation that shakes us to our cores...

Cursed Child Part One Act One (first half of)

We're finally here! The play that has loomed over us for the entire run of the podcast is finally in our hands. After years of hearing about the Trolley Witch and reading complaints about Mary Sues... it's time for Cursed Child!

We went very long on this episode, so I've split it into two almost 2 hour episodes. This week we tackle the first quarter or so of the first play (this is technically two plays!), the first half of Act One. There's plenty to discuss here: the history of the play, how much involvement JKR had versus her collaborators, and the unrealistic expectations the publishers and JKR may have set for the fanbase that doomed this play before it ever had a chance... and that's before we get to the play itself, which involves time travel wife theft and bad parenting galore!

This is an audio-only version of this holiday season gaming video for anyone who wants Shriek content but can't watch for whatever reason! Maybe you're at work or somethin'. Enjoy!

It's time to play the legendary game... the awful Deathly Hallows third-person shooter. Remember when PC ports were a total crapshoot? This is from that dark age, so it's capped at 30fps and has strange audio desync issues in cutscenes--but it IS playable! Well, in the functional sense. If you're wondering "how bad can a third person shooter possibly be?" well... well.

NOTE: This is an audio-only version of a let's play! It's not really a podcast; however, on the off chance you want to hear us chat over a game but don't have access to video right now, this is for you!

For the second part of our December extravaganza, we take a look at one of the more well-liked pieces of HP series nostalgia: the tie-in Lego-branded video game! Some of the puzzles for children definitely went over our wizened heads. There's also a bit so bad (like, content-wise, not difficulty-wise) I cut it altogether. Turns out this franchise always had transphobic elements; who knew!?

Anyway, esports gameplay this is not, but what we lack in efficiency we make up for with chats about college drinking habits, trashy manga/anime we consumed as teens, bad teachers, and much much more! A note: we'll talk about it in the episode itself, but this was actually recorded in two sessions a week apart because my internet went out for two days in the middle of our first attempt! If you're wondering why we suddenly restart a gameplay section halfway through, that's why.

What's next, you might ask? Well, I'll give you a hint: it has a cover system...

This is an audio only version! There's a video version available as well, just in case you missed it.

GRINCH VIBES TONIGHT! We're experimenting with occasional video content, and what better way to kick things off than a blind run through our favorite (airquotes) clothing company's Christmas lookbook? Discover the secrets of the Christmas Wizard, hot dog buns, and the perfect holiday heist plan... Plus, Liz has also discovered an exciting new content mine, one that will reveal what Witcher character she really is (according to the company, anyway). What else do we have in store? Tune in next week to find out...

ALSO: I can't believe I'm typing this, but out of an abundance of caution I am putting a content warning for the blackmilk christmas lookbook section for their weird... I'm going to be charitable and say miscommunication between the copy and photo team that results in a weirdly incestuous vibe! You can skip to 30 mins to go past the lookbook and into the quizzes segment.

We make our glorious return to shake off the cobwebs, chat about scams involving beloved 2000s brands, and lay out some predictions for the third Fantastic Beasts movie that is still happening, somehow. SUPPOSEDLY the real answers are out there... we wouldn't know, though.

We're talking about Fantastic Beasts a lot here which means I should give a general content warning for that movie which, if you've forgotten, involves a surprising amount of sexual violence for a Harry Potter movie, as well as general tastelessness.

Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 film. The time has come! Before our well-earned pre-Cursed Child break, we watched the final Harry Potter film, and we have so many questions. What worked? What didn't? What was changed? Why is Molly standing everywhere? Why did Voldemort bust when Ron and Hermione destroyed the cup of Ravenclaw? And did this mf really say ponsieve? All this and more in this feature-length episode--including our official Movie Rankings discussion to match last week's book list!

Also, a huge thanks to crocoshift on twitter for the incredible Cameo from Tom. holy shit