Originally a 1988 Japanese Studio Ghibli animated film, now a West End production blending puppetry, fantasy, and animism, The Standard is taking you behind the curtain of the Olivier award-winning show My Neighbour Totoro.
Skipping through Drury Lane’s Gillian Lynne Theatre, stage-sisters Victoria Chen (Mei) and Ami Okumura Jones (Satsuki), provide a glimpse into Japan’s Bildungsroman tale, starting with the dressing room.
The wardrobe is like a time capsule into 1955 Japan, stitching together a post-war Japan, a US-influenced Tokyo, and the Japanese countryside.
“Our amazing designer Kimie Nakano drew a lot on themes of nature and plants for her costume design,” says Jones, adding Nakano wanted the cast to look like spring flowers.
Chen unpacks how the “daffodil” and “rose” floral hues, and the “boxy” cuts of the dresses turn back the clock to make them both children.
But the Totoro House is really set alive by the puppetry, designed by Basil Twist, with assistant puppetry director Arina Ii dismantling (not literally) the materials and techniques used to bring the Shinto traditions to the stage.
Viewers will make the acquaintance of the show’s puppets, including the fictitious “soot sprite” creatures that dwell inside the homes of the show’s characters.
“They’ve got a life of their own and they’re moved by the air”, says Ii, as she goes on to explain how the cast all rope in to bring an animated movie to the stage.
With every performer in the show doubling as a puppeteer, the behind-the-scenes footage is a window into how set, costume, and puppetry are brought together to bring Studio Ghibli’s signature to the West End.
Produced by Joe Hisaishi and the Royal Shakespeare Company in collaboration with Nippon TV and Improbable, My Neighbour Totoro was directed by Phelim McDermott and adapted by Tom Morton-Smith.
Tickets for the show are available via https://totoroshow.com/tickets/.
