Interest

Video: BBC Report Includes Footage from London Stage Version of My Neighbour Totoro

The BBC has posted a two-minute video news report on the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)'s stage adaptation of Studio Ghibli's and Hayao Miyazaki's 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro, which is currently running at London's Barbican Centre.

The report includes moments from the play, although the Totoro themselves are not shown. There are comments from the two actors playing the sisters, Mei Mac as Mei and Ami Okumura Jones as Satsuki. This is the second time that Mei Mac has taken a lead role in a stage version of a film by Miyazaki. She previously played San in a stage version of Miyazaki's film Princess Mononoke created by the British company Whole Hog Theatre, which played both in London and in Shibuya, Tokyo in 2013.

Additionally, the report features the puppetry creator Basil Twist, who said that his Japanese contacts were very specific about details such as Totoro's eyes, the distance between his eyes and the shape of his head. Griselda Yorke of the RSC comments on how the play broke all box office records at the Barbican.

My Neighbor Totoro is running at the Barbican Centre until January 21, 2023. Tickets can be booked at here. While all the performances are almost or wholly sold out, there will be £25 day tickets available each day after 10 a.m., which can be booked either online or in person.

It is presented by the RSC and Hayao Miyazaki's longtime composer Joe Hisaishi, who created the music for the original film and serves as the play's executive producer. Tom Morton-Smith (Oppenheimer) is adapting the story, and Phelim McDermott (Akhnaten) directs the production. The play is made in collaboration with the English theatre company Improbable and Japan's Nippon TV.

There are several puppet builders on the production, including the Jim Henson Company and Creature Shop in Los Angeles, as well as the company Significant Object.

The evening performances are at 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday. There will also be matinee performances on Thursdays and Saturdays at 2 p.m, and additional matinees on 19, 21, 23, 27 December and on 2 January.

There will be no matinee on 22 December; no evening performances on 31 December and 2 January; and no performances on 24 and 26 December

Morton-Smith said that he had permission "to expand on the beats (in the film) that are already there and show some scenes that aren't in the film.”

The RSC describes the production on its website:

"This enchanting coming-of-age story explores the magical fantasy world of childhood and the transformative power of imagination, as it follows one extraordinary summer in the lives of sisters Satsuki and Mei.

"My Neighbor Totoro will play a strictly limited 15-week season from 8 October 2022 - 21 January 2023 and promises to delight all generations.

The original anime film My Neighbor Totoro is the story of two young sisters, Mei and Satsuki, who move to the countryside and encounter Totoro, wonderful creatures which only children can see.