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RSC My Neighbor Totoro London Stage Performances at the Barbican Centre Begin Saturday

Performances of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)'s stage adaptation of Studio Ghibli's and Hayao Miyazaki's 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro at London's Barbican Centre will begin on Saturday October 8.

Tickets can be booked at the above link. While many of the early 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. The tickets will be available for every performance except for the one on October 18.

The play's Twitter feed has recently released a new video that includes glimpses of the puppets which will be in the play. In the video, puppeteer Basil Twist says, "Totoro must be that you want to touch him. You want to fall asleep on his belly. It's made like a wig is - like a custom wig, so the individual strands are tied on."

Tickets are also available for a creative team talk about the play at the Barbican on Saturday October 15 at 4.45 p.m. Members of the creative team will discuss the influences and decisions behind the production.

The play will have a 15-week run from October 8, 2022 to January 21, 2023. 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 will be at 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday. There will also be matinee performances from Thursday October 20, 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.”

Full rehearsals for the play start in July. 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.