MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO - Gillian Lynne Theatre (24/08/25)

Studio Ghibli brought to life on stage in the most magical way possible

If you are looking for engaging, enchanting tales of childish wonder and whimsy, you need look no further than Studio Ghibli, who for forty years have been trailblazers at combining fantastical, magical environments with complex and layered characters, exploring themes with which many of us resonate strongly. "My Neighbour Totoro" follows Satsuke and her little sister Mei, as they and their father try and settle into a new house in the countryside, whilst their mother is ill in hospital. As the two girls explore the house and the surrounding area, they discover various unusual creatures, including the playful spirits inhabiting their house, and the titular spirit, humongous in stature, who acts as a guardian to the forest and a friend to the girls.

What playwright Tom Morton-Smith does marvellously is maintain the episodic nature and emotional depth of Hayao Miyazaki's original text in spite of its translation from the original Japanese, cleverly avoiding falling into the trap of trying to "westernise" the narrative by making it feel more linear. This is a major part of how successfully the story has been adapted from the screen to the stage, as in spite of it having been translated, we don't lose a single jot of Totoro's original on-screen magic.

Victoria Chen, Dai Tabuchi and Ami Okumura Jones (credit: Manuel Harlan)

Enhancing the text most gloriously is a creative team that dreams are made of, in a gargantuan collaborative effort between Ghibli, Nippon TV, Improbable and the RSC, a mighty team of visual and audio designers have been assembled to bring the visual spectacle of Totoro to life. The vision for this show by director Basil Twist is one with the distinct sense of child-like curiosity and astonishment at its heart, and this is most notably achieved by his use of puppetry, designed with bags of personality and charm that make it remarkably easy for one to suspend one's disbelief, and get lost in this fantastical world that's been brought to life before our very eyes.

Every single puppet, from the enormous, imposing figure of Totoro himself, to the iconic, fabled "catbus" and its 12 legs, even down to the army of soot sprites that inhabit the family home, have been designed with so much care and attention to detail, they genuinely feel like their own entities as opposed to pieces of fabric being commandeered. But of course the individuals collectively bringing them to life should also be heaped with praise and adulation, with a team of 13 Kazego puppeteers, led masterfully by Heather Lai and Matthew Leonheart, sweeping us off our feet, and whisking us away to the realms of the chimerical and fantastical for two and a half hours.

Victoria Chen (credit: Manuel Harlan)

Though the puppetry is very much at the heart of this adaptation, and what makes it so beautifully original, performances by our lead cast cannot be discounted, as the bulk of the storytelling is through their depictions of the characters fans of the original film know and adore so much. Ami Okumura Jones and Victoria Chen make us fully believe that they are 10 and 4 years old respectively, each giving us different degrees of youthful exuberance and innocent playfulness, with Chen in particular nailing the balance of being believable as a small child, whilst filling the stage as a seasoned performer.

Also worth a major nod is Joe Hisaishi's original score, which has been splendidly reorchestrated by Will Stuart, and is performed with wonderful panache by a terrifically tight-knit orchestra directed by Matt Smith, along with singer Al Ninomiya. This is part of a stunning, vivid overall soundscape brought to life by Tony Gayle and Nicola T. Chang, proving to be the final piece of an exquisite sensory puzzle, that brings together what is, without a doubt, one of the best new pieces of theatre to hit the west end in decades.

★★★★★

"My Neighbour Totoro" currently plays at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (tickets)