Memories of Japanese summers begin with the chirping sound of the cicada for me – their high-frequented mating call filled every park in Tokyo and Kyoto during a trip of a lifetime. And it is indeed the cicadas’ song which take me back, here at the West End‘s Gillian Lynne Theatre, acoustically illustrating the wonders of nature from their hideouts. Challenging my own estimation during my first visit here that the theatre appears to have been built cautiously to not provide seats with a bad view, we have opted for the cheapest seats available. And we are very happy with them and the value.
It is a busy weekday performance. Maybe this is the reason why we not see a single cosplayer in the brutalist foyer, and only a single child. In our row we discuss how kid-friendly the lush 2,5 hour long production is: While it clearly does not exclude children, it would overwhelm the attention spans of most primary schoolers we care about. The sheer size and volume of the cheeky but never ill-mannered forest spirits two sisters befriend after a move to the countryside might well have been too much for them.
My Friend Totoro is not a musical: A single singer accompanied by a full band performs songs from the visible off mostly in Japanese and rarely in English, and that is beautiful even without understanding her. Instead of singers, a choir of masterful puppeteers creates true magic – vivid flocks of chickens on wires are my personal highlight (my neighbour spotted a dog which I have missed) while Totoro’s tongue is a close second. The actors, led by two adult women playing a 4 and 6 year old, engage beautiful with agile props creating haunted houses, enchanted forests, ponds, fields and spirits. Projections on perspectives and psychedelic travels in new dimensions create more wonders.
To my very surprise it turns out the film was already first released in 1988 – my astonishment is due to the attention it received in Central Europe only around the late 1990s when curious audiences warmed up to Studio Ghibli films and their unusual dramaturgy, a storytelling so very different from the classic theory of drama we were used in film and on stage: Key narratives started at different points of the films (not always right after setting, characters and potential adventures or conflicts were introduced) and often ended abruptly. Tonight ended hopeful and the enthusiastically applauding audience, who have just been asked not to film the curtain call, leaves with a happy smile.
**** out of 5 stars
Adapted by Tom Morton-Smith from the animation film by Hayao Miyazaki, directed by Phelim McDermott. Music by Joe Hisaishi
Via the TodayTix app we paid £33 per seat in the circle, row D and chose seats 74 and 75
Tickets can be booked until 29 March 2026
Sadie takes the Stage 