MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO announces final extension in the West End

Shehrazade Zafar-Arif 15 May, 2026, 12:54

Executive Producer Joe Hisaishi and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), in collaboration with Nippon TV and Improbable, announced today that the multi-award winning stage adaptation of Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbour Totoro, playing at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, will extend in the West End for the final time.

Helen Chong, Victoria Chen, and Totoro in My Neighbour Totoro. Photo by Manuel Harlan.

Based on the beloved 1988 Studio Ghibli film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, My Neighbour Totoro follows two sisters, Satsuki and Mei, who move to a new home in the country with their father while their mother battles a deadly illness in a rural hospital. While exploring the forests around their spooky old house, the sisters encounter a friendly forest spirit named Totoro. Mei and Satsuki whisked away on a fantastical adventure into the world of spirits and otherworldly creatures, all while grappling with the terror and grief of potentially losing their mother.

Adapted by Tom Morton-Smith (Oppenheimer), My Neighbour Totoro is directed by Improbable Co-Founder, Phelim McDermott. Winner of six Olivier Awards and five WhatsOnStage Awards, My Neighbour Totoro broke the Barbican’s Box Office record for most tickets sold in a single day in April 2022, ahead of its global premiere in October 2022.

The cast includes Victoria Chen as Mei, Helen Chong as Satsuki, Dai Tabuchi as Tatsuo, Jacqueline Tate as Granny, and Ai Ninomiya as Kaze No Koe/Singer. It features production design by Tom Pye, puppetry design and direction by Basil Twist, costume design by Kimie Nakano, lighting design by Jessica Hung Han Yun, and movement by You-Ri Yamanaka. The production features music from Joe Hisaishi’s iconic score in a new orchestration by Will Stuart, performed live with sound design by Tony Gayle.