The continuation of Harry Potter's story won't be limited to the theater. The script for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the first part of a pair of stage plays that begin performances this July with a West End staging, will be available for sale beginning this summer, according to author J.K. Rowling's publishing group, Pottermore.
In fact, two versions of the two-part story will be available. A Special Rehearsal Edition will be sold while the shows are in previews — a theater term for the public performances a major theatrical production uses to hone a script and staging before its premiere. When the shows begin in earnest, a Definitive Collector's Edition will be available, presumably featuring any last minute changes to the script.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is spread across two performances "due to the epic nature of the story." The pair of stories is meant to be experienced in the same day or neighboring evenings. The scripts will contain both parts.
Here's the official synopsis:
It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.
While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.