Aiden Close's journey as Scorpius Malfoy will bring him back to his college town of Boston

There are many ways to come home as an actor. For some, it means playing a role that they had previously tackled or performing in a venue a second time. For Aiden Close, the National Tour of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will be a homecoming for him this November. Read on to hear the lessons he learned as a young creative in Boston.

How is Close related to Boston?

If I leave my house and walk three miles along the Charles River, I find myself on the campus of Boston University. It is here that Aiden Close, who graduated from the College of Fine Arts in 2023, studied. He was cast in January 2024 as Scorpius Malfoy, Albus Potter's best friend and one of the driving forces of the show that BU Today calls "a straight play...that's an epilogue to the original Harry Potter series."

Close will be returning to the city where he earned his BFA in acting and a concentration in musical theater. "I'm very excited to perform in this place where I started to learn how to be myself onstage, where I first learned my, quote-unquote magic," say Close. The afticle remarks that "He says his four years on Commonwealth Avenue, although briefly interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic,, were filled iwth invaluable experiences, both in and out of the classroom." It notes that he took pace in a student-created sitcom, which should serve him well as Scorpius has several moments of hilarity in the play. (He memorably says of ineptitude, "It's brilliant" and calls responds to being called a failure with "YES. AND IT'S AMAZING.")

He also studied and performed with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and the Prague Shakespeare Company. He says that he "was so lucky with the roles [he] played...two substantial, bucket list roles where I was able to, in a way, try to pursue this simplicity and joy. I wouldn't trade those things for the world."

He describes his journey with the highly-successful play by Jack Thorne, J.K. Rowling, and John Tiffany with fondness and gratitude:

"It just felt too good to be true. When you have the original director and the original creative team working with you to cut the script and mold this new version around you, it's so special."

Aidan Close

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will reach Boston on November 9 and play at the Emersoon Colonial Theater.