One of the things I don't usually mention on this predominently travel-oriented blog is that I'm a fan of anime, and Studio Ghibli in particular. After being introduced to the work of Hayao Miyazaki through Spirited Away, one of the first animations I watched after that was the classic My Neighbour Totoro which features two young girls, Mei and Satsuki, moving to a new house in the countryside with their father. There they find their new home is infested with soot sprites, and they soon encounter the forest spirits known as Totoro - a being that is reportedly based on the Tanuki of Japanese legend. It was an instant favourite, but one I've not watched for at least a decade, but when I heard that there was going to be a stage play of this coming to London I absolutely had to see it.
The London venue for this stage play is the Barbican Centre, an example of brutalist architecture that heavily contrasts against the nature themes of Totoro, but is also home to the London Symphony Orchestra. WhatsOnStage had the following to say about the production:
The company will be made up of Haruka Abe (Yasuko/ puppeteer), Li-Leng Au (puppeteer), Boaz Chad (puppeteer), Nino Furuhata (Kanta/ puppeteer), Andrew Futaishi (puppeteer), Zachary Hing (puppeteer), Susan Momoko Hingley (Miss Hara/ puppeteer), Yojiro Ichikawa (puppeteer), Arina Ii (puppeteer), Haruka Kuroda (Nurse Emiko/ puppeteer), Marian Lee (puppeteer), Matthew Leonhart (puppeteer), Mei Mac (Mei), Aki Nakagawa (puppeteer), Kanako Nakano (Tsukiko/ puppeteer), Ami Okumura Jones (Satsuki), Michael Phong Le (Hiroshi/ puppeteer), Tobi Poster-Su (puppeteer), Si Rawlinson (puppeteer), Dai Tabuchi (Tatsuo/ puppeteer), Jacqueline Tate (Granny/ puppeteer) and Shaofan Wilson (puppeteer).
Directed by Phelim McDermott, the show has production design by Tom Pye, costumes by Kimie Nakano, lighting by Jessica Hung Han Yun, sound by Tony Gayle, movement by You-Ri Yamanaka, dramaturgy by Pippa Hil, associate lighting programming by Tamykha Patterson and associate set design by Isobel Nicolson,
Joe Hisaishi's score will be performed live in the show, with new orchestrations by Will Stuart, musical supervision by Bruce O'Neil, sound design by Tony Gayle, creative sound design by music associate Nicola T Chang and associate sound design by Steven Atkinson.
For starters, it was good to see the cast had not been white-washed for the Western audience. My hope beyond this was that whoever was working on it would fully appreciate how special Totoro is to fans. From the very beginning it did not disappoint.
It starts off with a title card of "My Neighbor Totoro" and a "u" amusingly works it's way into the title so the spelling is right for it's British audience. The orchestra is then revealed to be performing in what looks like the tree tops, and we hear the Joe Hisaishi score performed by them. This time I realised the opening music as they're driving through the countryside bears a striking resemblance to Cliff Richard's 'Summer Holiday'. Intentional? It's a question Hisashi has probably been asked at some point in the last forty years.
The story is faithful to the animation and it's really interesting to see how they handle scenes with the soot sprites in, and especially those with Tototoro. For the soot sprites there are performers dressed all in black, and holding the sprites on wires. At points these performers which are 'not there' are used to comic effect as well. This is similar for when we first see Chu-Totoro and Chibi-Totoro, as they lead us towards Totoro. The first sighting of Totoro is massive construction that fills the stage, and we still see Mei climb up onto the stomach. It's hard to describe what an incredible sight it is as Totoro stirs from his slumber. We later see a much smaller version when he's standing at the bus stop for that famous scene where we first see Catbus.
I was impressed by this from beginning to end, and loved watching every minute of it. Although performances of this at the Barbican are now at an end, I'd recommend it to anyone if this show ever makes a return there or anywhere else. Their shop had plenty of Studio Ghibli inspired products that also made it fun to look around.