Recently the South Lakes Theatre department put on a production of the Harry Potter spinoff play Puffs, which is a comedic retelling of Harry Potter from the perspective of the Hufflepuffs, members of one of the four houses at Hogwarts who were generally ignored in the original series. The show is jam packed with references to the original Harry Potter series and jokes on its behalf. In an effort to see the reception from the audience about a show that was so tied to another piece of media, the Sentinel interviewed two students who saw the show. 

Eli Erazo, a senior, describes himself as a fan of the series who’s both read the Harry Potter books and watched the movies. “I really enjoyed the parody of Harry Potter and my past knowledge of the Harry Potter series definitely improved my experience of the show,” Eli commented. In regards to the production on the side of South Lakes, Eli said “The acting and comedy was top notch,”. Before this show, he had never seen a South Lakes theatre production before, but after seeing Puffs, he said he would definitely watch more. 

Teagan Ryan, also a senior, has never read any of the Harry Potter books nor seen any of the movies. As somebody with no familiarity with the franchise, she said the show was well acted, but many of the jokes and references fell flat for her. However, she mentioned, “The other people in the audience seemed to really enjoy the jokes I didn’t understand.” So the niche subject matter obviously worked for some people, just not for her. This was also her first time seeing a South Lakes theatre production, and she said she would probably see another show after this one.

Overall, Puffs seemed to be a promising success for the theatre department. While mainly appealing to the admittedly large audience of Harry Potter fans, they still made an entertaining show that everyone could at least somewhat enjoy. If you missed out on seeing this show, make sure to see the musical in the spring, because South Lakes theatre obviously knows what they are doing.