There are two types of people in the world: people who love Studio Ghibli movies, and people who’ve never heard of them. Adapted from Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 film, My Neighbour Totoro is a sweet, magical fable of sisters Satsuki and Mei, and the mystical creatures they encounter in the forest. Tom Pye’s production design is beautiful. This is most noticeable in the forest scenes, but also in the staging of the sisters’ house and the position of the accompanying band. There’s also plenty of puppets, which are entertaining (though they’d be more impressive if puppets weren’t currently a staple in pretty much every show in London). The enormous Totoro puppet is ostensibly the show’s main attraction, but it’s the smaller, simpler puppets, portraying Susuwatari (dust-spirits) and pet chickens which are the most crowd-pleasing. However, some of the fantastical elements of My Neighbour Totoro don’t make sense onstage. A twelve-legged cat-bus that appears with no context, and the long tableaux of Mei and Satsuki boarding and riding the cat-bus certainly looks cool, but it goes on far too long without adding anything to the story. The overall effect is weird and perplexing, and seems like a shoehorned-in way of showing off more puppet wizardry.
As for the human characters, Ami Okumura Jones and Mei Mac star as Satsuki and Mei. Both are decent performances, though Mac’s hamming up of her character's childishness becomes grating. The cast is predominantly East Asian- refreshing to see at a London theatre, though hopefully plays like My Neighbour Totoro can make representation like this more commonplace. Japanese references aren’t explained to the audience, which adds to the immersion in the story. Dai Tabuchi gives a nice performance as the girls’ father though, like many of the supporting characters, he’s under-developed and drifts off for a large proportion of the story.
My Neighbour Totoro is a frustratingly slow and low-conflict play, taking until mid-way through Act 2 for a plot to appear. This pacing may work well in the gentle world of Ghibli films, but onstage it leads to a wincingly sedate story. Even the lovely design, and the brilliant musical accompaniment by Matt Smith and Will Stuart, isn’t enough to engage an audience when the characters aren’t really doing anything. When the plot finally kicks off, there’s a tumble of action to get everything sorted for the rushed Happily Ever After ending. The choreographed curtain call at the close of the play is, however, delightful.
Fans of Miyazaki’s film are unlikely to be disappointed by its translation to screen. Non-Ghibli–o-philes may be bored and bewildered, but the beautiful design, musical loveliness and warm tone are just enough to make My Neighbour Totoro a pleasant evening.
