My Neighbor Totoro: The Royal Shakespeare Company returns the Smash Stage Adaptation of Studio Ghibli Classic for season two in London

Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company brings back their stunning stage adaptation of the 1988 hand-drawn classic by award-winning Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki My neighbor Totoro for a second season at London’s Barbican in November.

The show will run for 17 weeks from November 21 to March 23 at the Kunsthaus in the capital’s district.

It follows an initial 15-week run that ended on January 21 after playing to a record crowd of more than 130,000, according to data we requested from the RSC.

Director Phelim McDermott tells us “that for many children the show was their first experience of going to the theatre.”

But there was another demographic that fascinated him.

“There were a lot of video and gaming enthusiasts, a lot of them in their late teens, who really got into it,” says McDermott, who is also the co-founder and co-artistic director of the theater company Improbable.

Both family and teenage audiences are believed to have watched Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli masterpieces on Netflix during the pandemic. “They switched to it,” McDermott noted.

My neighbor Totoro is produced by Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi and the RSC in association with Improbable and Nippon TV. It was edited by Tom Morton-Smith with music by Hisaishi; Some of his stage score was not included in the film version.

Similar to the film, the show is set in 1950s Japan and follows the adventures of Satsuki and Mei, two young sisters who move from Tokyo to the countryside. There they meet playful ghosts and furry creatures, including a giant fuzzy guy named Totoro and a giant cat bus that flies across a stage expertly designed by Tom Pye and lit by Jessica Hung and Han Yun.

The playful beasts were designed by puppeteer Basil Twist, who then commissioned Jim Henson’s Creature Workshop in Los Angeles to build them.

The Totoro and the Catbus are theatrical masterpieces, so much so that the RSC flatly refused to release any photos of them, lest it spoil the fun for future fans.

The magical creations used in the original production were the prototypes, McDermott explained. New puppets will be introduced when the show returns, although the director noted that they will be made a bit stronger “so the puppets will last longer”.

McDermott said the “cultural origins” of the play. My neighbor Totoro use the Japanese language where appropriate. For example, he said, “The greeting was in Japanese.”

There is a feeling that the second season at the Barbican will not be the last.

And McDermott spared no further ambitions for it My neighbor Totoro. “I know a lot of Americans have seen it,” he said. “I would love to see the show come to New York.”

To do this, the RSC will need to find a place big enough for the Totoro – and for the cat bus to ride into the sky.

Preferred booking begins April 11, with casts for November’s race to be announced soon.

The show has been nominated for nine Olivier awards and the ceremony will take place at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday. Teddy Lasso Star Hannah Waddingham has hosting duties and will lead an ensemble performing an opening number choreographed and directed by Anthony Van Laast (Mamma Mia!, Beauty and the Beast).