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My Neighbor Totoro Stage Play Ends Second London Run

The Royal Shakespeare Company's stage adaptation of Hayao Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro, which has been having its second run at London's Barbican Centre since November 2023, had its final performance on Saturday March 23.

The play was presented by the RSC and Hayao Miyazaki's longtime composer Joe Hisaishi, who created the music for the original film and served as the play's executive producer. Its first run, which was also at the Barbican Centre, began on October 8, 2022 and ended on January 20 2023. Phelim McDermott (Akhnaten) directed the production. The play featured puppets by Basil Twist, which were built at Jim Henson's Creature Shop in Los Angeles. It was made in collaboration with the English theatre company Improbable and Japan's Nippon TV.

Several of the same principal actors appeared in both runs of the play. They included Mei Mac as Mei Kusakabe and Ami Okumura Jones as her older sister Satsuki. Dai Tabuchi played the girls' father Tatsuo and Jacqueline Tate played Granny. Both runs also featured the Kazego Puppetry ensemble.

In April 2023, the play won six Olivier Awards, including for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play; Best Director; Best Costume Design; Best Sound Design; Best Set Design; and Best Lighting Design.

Other than being adapted from a Hayao Miyazaki film, the play has no relationship to the Spirited Away stage play, which began in Tokyo in 2022 and will have a run from April 30 to August 24 at the London Coliseum Theatre near Leicester Square. Unlike the English-language My Neighbor Totoro play, the Spirited Away play will be in Japanese with English "surtitles" (captions) over the stage.