Today is World Theatre Day (WTD) and to celebrate it I decided to talk about the performative arts in the wizarding world.
I've seen questioned sometimes if there is performative arts in the Wizarding World. The answer is yes. The wizards have their own equivalent of some Muggle entertainment/arts:
Music - Celestina Warbeck and The Weird Sisters are professional musicians
Books - "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore", "Armando Dippet: Master or Moron" and "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" are the known examples
Fine arts - portraits, paintings and sculptures are all around Hogwarts and The Ministry. Also rich families (like the Blacks) could afford to have personal portraits
Sports - Quidditch
Radio - Molly Weasley listens to Celestina Warbeck on the radio
Newspapers - The Daily Prophet and The Quibbler at least
Joke shops - there is at least one in Hogsmeade and the recently opened "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes"
Films - probably not.
This seems far too "technological" for the wizarding world. They don't have telephones ("fellytones?" - Mr Weasley) or television on the whole, so I doubt they'd have cinema or films either. Although it's possible, since Pottermore tells us of a precedent with television:
While they have no need of mundane domestic objects such as dishwashers or vacuum cleaners, some members of the magical community are amused by Muggle television, and a few firebrand wizards even went so far, in the early eighties, as to start a British Wizarding Broadcasting Corporation, in the hope that they would be able to have their own television channel.
The Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts (W.A.D.A.) is mentioned in the Tales of Beedle the Bard.
W.A.D.A. is a wizarding school that provides education for witches and wizards who seek a theatrical or performance career. Professor Herbert Beery began teaching at the Academy after leaving the post of Herbology Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Four graduates of W.A.D.A. named Beckett, Virginia, Samuel, and Darby put on free puppet shows based on Beedle the Bard's The Tale of the Three Brothers and The Fountain of Fair Fortune at Carkitt Market during the late 1990s.
W.A.D.A. is a reference to R.A.D.A. (The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts) in London, England. Many of the stars of the Harry Potter films trained at R.A.D.A., including Ralph Fiennes, Kenneth Branagh, Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon, John Hurt, and Fiona Shaw.
There are also a couple of mentions of ballet in the books: Barnabas the Barmy's attempt to teach it to trolls, and Malfoy's sneer to Harry during a Quidditch match in HP and the Chamber of Secrets.
To celebrate this day, I leave you the Full Fountain of Fair Fortune show at Diagon Alley - Tales of Beedle the Bard played at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort.