Image caption Radcliffe (right) appears with Joshua McGuire in the Old Vic production

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has revealed he's yet to see the stage play of JK Rowling's eighth Potter story.

"I just feel it would not be a relaxing evening at the theatre," he said of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

"I assume every night there are 1,000 Harry Potter fans in the audience," he continued, adding it was "fantastic" they were there to see the play.

Radcliffe is shortly to return to the London stage in an Old Vic revival of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

The 27-year-old said he had read Sir Tom Stoppard's play "at a fairly formative age", having studied it while on the Harry Potter set, and could remember being "baffled and delighted".

First staged in 1966, the play replays Shakespeare's Hamlet from the point of view of two hapless minor characters.

Radcliffe plays Rosencrantz in the 50th anniversary production, while Joshua McGuire plays Guildenstern.

Image copyright Manuel Harlan Image caption Jamie Parker plays the adult Harry in the two-part Cursed Child stage play

Speaking to the BBC's Rebecca Jones, Radcliffe said he had studied Shakespeare at school but had never performed it on stage.

He said Sir Tom's play, which features the scenes from Hamlet in which Rosencrantz and Guildenstern appear, was "an amazing introduction" to the Bard of Avon's work.

"It's a play so full of ideas there's always going to be something new to play with," he went on, adding he was "starting to enjoy the poetry" of the Shakespeare sections.

The actor also revealed he would "probably just ignore" fans who attempt to record his performance, recalling that people had tried to talk to him on stage when he made his theatre debut in Equus.

Directed by David Leveaux, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead runs from 25 February to 29 April.

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