I AM a long-term Harry Potter fan. I don't know many people my age who aren’t, and the few are shunned! 

A classic bookworm and geek, I remember being read the tales by my mum, watching the films over and over, visiting the studio tour in London and, always, secretly wishing I could get a letter from Hogwarts. 

As recently as January of this year, I completed the Harry Potter movie marathon, watching all eight films in one sitting. I won’t lie, me and my friend were quite proud of ourselves. 

However, when I saw that a Harry Potter themed comedy show would be making its way to Basingstoke, I have to say I was a little apprehensive. What could a group of four performers do with the Harry Potter series that hadn’t already been done, that didn’t detract from the much-loved magic? 

Well, from the get-go they exceeded all expectations.

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The lively troupe, The Spontaneous Players, are an Edinburgh-based company which tour the country doing improvised comedy. I’m no comedy expert, and my only previous exposure to improv was a series of shows by my university’s group, but it’s a style which fascinates me.

The show began with a series of short sketches. The performers asked audience members to shout out invented Harry Potter titles, so “Harry Potter and the [blank’]”.

There was a whole array of ideas, from a train crash, to Ru Paul style lip sync battle! 

An indication of the target audience came from the many references to other fandoms, as well as to dungeons and dragons and other interests on the niche-side. 

After they had warmed up - and got us all laughing - they got everyone to vote on a few suggestions, to select one to turn into a longer piece with an interval. 

The seamlessness with which they transitioned between scenes was incredible. Of course I know that much of the script must be to an extent pre-prepared, and then adapted, but they really had a whole story ready which met the brief, in a matter of seconds. 

One of the most amusing parts was seeing the four performers interchange characters - jumping into place and inviting the audience to use their imaginations when they were short on bodies!

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While there was some crude humour thrown in for good measure, I was impressed by how little they leant on that tool. In a comedy style so reliant on a quick laugh, an easy round-off to a ramble, I can see how it could be tempting to over use ‘dirty’ jokes. But that was not the case at all.

I found myself laughing out loud at the quick-wit, high energy and occasional slapstick vibe of the show overall, and would absolutely recommend to a friend. 

Now I’m keen to go again, to discover just how different it would be. Afterall, in improv, no two nights are the same.

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