''My Neighbour Totoro'' is a stage play based on
Studio Ghibli
is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and ha ...
's
1988 animated film of the same name by
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...
. It is adapted by
Tom Morton-Smith
Tom Morton-Smith (born 1980) is an English playwright.
Biography
Morton-Smith studied Drama at the University of East Anglia before training as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
In 2006 he was selected to be part of Futu ...
with music by
Joe Hisaishi
, known professionally as , is a Japanese composer, musical director, conductor and pianist, known for over 100 film scores and solo albums dating back to 1981. He is also known for his piano scores.
Hisaishi's music has been known to explor ...
.
Synopsis
In 1950s Japan, two girls, Satsuki and Mei, whose mother has been hospitalised with
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
,
relocate to a village in the countryside.
Their new house, in which they live with their professor father,
Tatsuo,
[ is haunted with soot spirits, ,] and they encounter Totoro, a "forest spirit who looks like the result of an experimental breeding programme involving a chinchilla, a barn owl and a bean-bag sofa". Mei is the first to discover him, and he comforts the girls with his presence.
Cast and characters
Production history
The film version
A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...
was released in 1988, having been written by Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...
of Studio Ghibli
is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and ha ...
.
The play is directed by Phelim McDermott
Phelim McDermott (born 21 August 1963) is an English actor and stage director. He has directed plays and operas in Britain, Germany, Spain, the United States, and Australia. McDermott was a co-founder of the Improbable theatre in 1996.
Career
McD ...
, produced and composed by Joe Hisaishi
, known professionally as , is a Japanese composer, musical director, conductor and pianist, known for over 100 film scores and solo albums dating back to 1981. He is also known for his piano scores.
Hisaishi's music has been known to explor ...
and the Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...
, in collaboration with Improbable and Nippon TV
JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...
. The production was done with Miyazaki's blessing, on the condition that Hisaishi was doing it; Hisaishi had wanted to see an original Japanese show be performed internationally. Tom Morton-Smith
Tom Morton-Smith (born 1980) is an English playwright.
Biography
Morton-Smith studied Drama at the University of East Anglia before training as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
In 2006 he was selected to be part of Futu ...
adapted the play from the movie and had begun work on the stage adaptation for years prior to the Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...
's April 2022 announcement that it was being staged. He spoke of the difficulties converting it from film due to its structure, saying that the movie contradicted "everything ethought eknew about dramatic structure[ and that he saw his job as "translation as well as adaptation".] Reviewers comparing the movie and the play have noted that the adaptation has more speaking and greater development of supporting characters, with more emphasis on the interactions between people. They have also written of the length, pointing out that it is nearly an hour longer than the original.
According to Morton-Smith, rehearsals began without the script, with it only being taken into the rehearsal room on the second week. Casting of the children were done using adult actors, with Johnny Oleksinski writing in the ''New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'' that he believed it was due to the need to create Miyazaki's effect of "anime-style young people": child actors would not have been able to capture the same nuances in character. However, Nick Curtis of the ''Evening Standard
The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.
In October 2009, after be ...
'' wrote that it meant that the "tropes of child acting erethoroughly overworked". Furuhata's portrayal of Kanta received mixed reviews, with Oleksinski calling his performance "tender" and hilarious and Quentin Letts
Quentin Richard Stephen Letts (born 6 February 1963) is an English journalist and theatre critic. He has written for ''The Daily Telegraph'', ''Daily Mail'', ''Mail on Sunday'', and ''The Oldie''. On 26 February 2019, it was announced that Lett ...
of ''The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'' writing it was "delightful ndquirky";[ Curtis said that it was a "parody of awkwardness".]
The play makes extensive use of puppets, with puppetmaster Basil Twist
Basil Twist is a New York City-based puppeteer who is known for his underwater puppet show, "''Symphonie Fantastique''". He was named a MacArthur Fellowship recipient on September 29, 2015.
Life and work
Originally from San Francisco, Basil Twis ...
saying that "Totoro must be that you want to touch him, that you want to fall asleep on his belly". In particular, the Japanese producers strongly advocated for the use of human puppeteers instead of machines: the product was a new "wind spirit" style of puppetry. Prototypes were created in San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
by Twist, who brought them to London for further work with consultants and McDermott. The prototypes were then sent to Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
for detailed crafting of the small parts and materials.[
The set was created out of steel base, with an oak veneer, and used to treat some of the house's wood surfaces.] Saying that "there's nothing less Japanese" than having plastic leaves to represent the forest, production designer Tom Pye used wood liberally, using two-dimensional layers instead of using three-dimensional props.
On 19 May 2022, the production broke the Barbican's box-office record for ticket sales in one day, previously held by the 2015 production of ''Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'' starring Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received various accolades, including a British Academy Television Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Laurence O ...
. It premiered at the Barbican Centre
The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...
, London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, from 8 October, with an official press night on 18 October and running until 21 January 2023.
Themes
''My Neighbour Totoro'' focuses on the illness of loved ones, love of the environment and fear,[ with Tom Pye stating that the story had become more relevant due to COVID-19 prevention measures and ]global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
. Mei Mac, who played Mei, agreed with Pye's assessment of the pandemic's effect and said, "At its heart, ''Totoro'' is about grief, and these two girls who are missing their sick mother."
Critical reception
While criticising the pace of the play due to how closely it mirrored the movie, Sarah Hemming of the ''Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' gave it five stars, praising the portrayal of the main characters and called the play a "gorgeous, uplifting tribute to the link between theatre and the imaginative realm of children's play". ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' Dominic Cavendish also observed that the pace was due to the film, but called it "intoxicating nddetail-savouring". Awarding it four stars, he compared it to a pantomime
Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...
but ultimately praised it as a "vital power surge of Anglo-Japanese creative electricity fit for these soul-sapped times".
In a five-star review in ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', Arifa Akbar compared the play to the movie, writing that there was a "different imagination at work here, but it is just as enchanting and perhaps more emotionally impactful". She highlighted the puppeteers' role, calling them a "human field of corn, swaying as one" and describing Totoro as "formidable, rumbling, eerie, comic and endearing at once". Also praising their role was its sister paper's Susannah Clapp, praising them in a four-star review as the "souls of the creatures and the real pulse of the play". Identically giving it four stars, Johnny Oleksinski of the ''New York Post'' called for the play to be shown on Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
, saying that it "balances jaw-dropping effects with soul and emotional intelligence" and it played host to "one of the most stunning theatrical images in years".
Cautioning that watching ''Totoro'' would lead to "sore cheeks" from the "two and a half hours you'll spend grinning from ear to ear", ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' Annabel Nugent gave it four stars; she likened the set's ability to adapt to origami
) is the Japanese paper art, art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of pape ...
but said that the music was occasionally not a strong enough partner to the "splendour of the visual storytelling". Writing in ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', Clive Davis also picked out the music for criticism in a four-star review, attacking it as "so insipid" but praising the protagonists' portrayal, puppeteers, and set.
Giving it four stars in its Sunday edition, Quentin Letts called it "likeably impassive ndlightly surreal". He said that its lack of evil was a double-edged sword, but admitted that the play would probably be a good fit for children. Likewise focusing on the light nature was Nick Curtis of the ''Evening Standard'', who stated in a three-star review that ''Totoro'' needed "more jeopardy, more darkness and more of the monsters". Comparing ''Totoro'' to another play, ''Matilda
Matilda or Mathilda may refer to:
Animals
* Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder
* Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thoroughbred racehorse
* Matilda, a dog of the professional wrestling tag-team The ...
'', that he believed the Royal Shakespeare Company were trying to emulate, he said it was not "quirky or adult-friendly enough" to be the same, saying that it was "easier to admire than to love". Also making a comparison between the two plays was Matt Wolf of ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', who said that they were "family entertainment that adults might like even more than children". While criticising the quick changes in tone for the ending as the play's one error, Wolf called the "kindness, empathy and generosity of spirit" "infectious".
On 8 December 2022, it was announced that ''My Neighbour Totoro'' led the nominations for the 2023 WhatsOnStage Awards
The WhatsOnStage Awards (WOS Awards), formerly known as the Theatregoers' Choice Awards, are organised by the theatre website WhatsOnStage.com. The awards recognise performers and productions of British theatre with an emphasis on London's West ...
, earning nine nominations. ''My Neighbour Totoro'' came fifth on ''The Independents best theatre of 2022 ranking.
Awards
Original production
References
{{reflist
External links
Official website (RSC)
2022 plays
British plays
Plays about families
Plays based on films
Plays set in Japan
Plays set in the 1950s
Studio Ghibli
Works by Joe Hisaishi