LONDON – Millions have read the books and thousands more have seen the film, but fans of the world‘s favourite wizard Harry Potter will have to wait at least another six years before they can see him bring his magic to the stage. „The dramatisation rights are not yet licensed and are subject to a contractual holdback until 2007,“ a spokeswoman for author JK Rowling‘s agent Christopher Little said. She said there were regular inquiries from all over the world about the stage rights but they were all met with a polite but firm refusal.

But girls‘ school North Foreland Lodge in Hampshire, south of London, slipped through the net last year when Rowling gave permission for the pupils to perform a stage adaptation of „Harry Potter and the Philosopher‘s Stone“ penned by English teacher Heather Morland. The Potter books, about an orphaned boy who finds out he is a wizard, have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, topping adult bestseller lists as well.

Single mother turned multi-millionaire superstar Rowling has already written four highly successful novels about the boy wizard and has promised another three to take him up to the end of his days at Hogwarts school.

Reuters