Although Barry Potter and the Magic of Wizardry isn’t headed to the Vancouver Fringe Festival, fans will have to check social media to find where Tim Motley will be performing next. I’m sure this talented magician-comedian has a lot more shows lined up during the remainder of this year, and as for what he’ll do afterwards, we have to wait and see.
As a fan of his works, namely his Dirk Darrow adventures, I knew I had to ask him about why change it up? As stated before in my review, he’s not retiring the character. Instead, he’s expanding his repertoire, and it’ll be interesting to see if his Barry persona will include brand-new adventures instead of recapping the Harry Potter universe, which is what his latest play does from an outsider’s perspective.
The following is my brief interview with him after the show:
When did you get the idea to create Barry Potter?
It was a few years ago. I had a girlfriend who was a Harry Potter fanatic, and we’d watch all the movies together. He was the biggest thing in magic since Houdini. He’s bigger, and also the whole world [this character lives in] is a massive pop culture phenomenon. I asked why isn’t there a magic show too?
I looked into it, and I tossed around the idea for me to do it instead. But I don’t even have an English accent [to pull the performance off]. Like, how can I possibly do justice to it? I gave it a go in January of this year, and now it’s like gangbusters–I’m taking it on the road!
It’s hard to believe 20 years have passed since the theatrical release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The personalities moved on to appearing in more demanding projects, but in the eyes of fans, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint will always be Harry, Hermione and Ron. But there’s more people who made this film franchise what it is today. Also included are the directors–Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell and David Yates–and supporting cast (the list is too huge to present here).
By Ed Sum
After playing 
By Ed Sum