【Netherlands】

LONDON -- In the run-up to the first public showings of the Harry Potter and Netherlandsthe Cursed Childplay this Sunday (not to mention the world-wide release of the script), wizarding-based excitement levels are reaching fever pitch.

At the request of J.K. Rowling herself people are staying tight-lipped about spoilers, but from the looks of the first reviews there is a bit of a pattern emerging.

From the sounds of it, one unlikely character in particular looks set to be a huge star of the play.

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Anthony Boyle, who plays Scorpius Malfoy, is not only one of the Cursed Child's main characters -- from the sounds of it he's also one of the play's standout performers.

As the first reviews of the play poured in Tuesday morning, Boyle's name was getting mentioned again and again.

"Surely set to be a fan favourite."

"Jamie Parker makes a studious and likeable Harry, Paul Thornley’s Ron has an effortless goofy appeal, and Noma Dumezweni brings a sober authority to Hermione," wrote Henry Hitchings in the Evening Standard. "But of all the performances the most layered and absorbing comes from relative newcomer Anthony Boyle as Scorpius, who’s surely set to be a fan favourite."

"A Malfoy really is the highlight of this play."

"Yes, a Malfoy really is the highlight of this play," wrote Jack Shepherd in his review for the Independent. "Anthony Boyle -- whose previous credits include Heronsat the Lyric Theatre Belfast and a minor role in Game of Thrones-- plays the awkward, geeky, and completely charming son of Draco Malfoy, his every appearance on stage generating huge amounts of laughter."

"Needle-sharp rapport."

"The real stand-out characters and actors in The Cursed Childare Harry's son Albus Severus Potter (Sam Clemmett) and his unlikely best friend Scorpius Malfoy (Anthony Boyle) who are at the centre of the storyline about time-turners, alternative realities and the dark arts," wrote Kasia Delgado in the Radio Times. "They're the oddball duo, sons of enemies Harry and Draco, who keep the otherwise rather contrived, slightly underwhelming plot interesting with their needle-sharp rapport."

For awhile now, it's been apparent that Scorpius Malfoy will be pivotal to the plot of the play. He was one of the few characters to have an official portrait released, he's spoken about his character in interviews, and it's looked increasingly likely that the relationship between him and Albus Potter (Sam Clemmett) will be central to the core Cursed Childstory.

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Back before the first previews, Boyle even received a special tweet from J.K. Rowling herself.

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For anyone going to see the play or planning on buying the script (i.e. absolutely everyone), it looks like Anthony Boyle will be one to keep an eye on.

He might just be about to reinvent the Malfoy name.