All of a sudden London theatre seems to have cottoned on to the popularity of East Asian culture, so in the coming months we've got the return of
Totoro, new musicals with Korean and Manga roots, and first up another adaptation of a beloved Studio Ghibli film.
Spirited Away comes to the Coliseum in John Caird's original Tokyo production, in Japanese with surtitles. Like many a Hayao Miyazaki story it begins with a child nervous about moving to a new home: Chihiro's (Momoko Fukuchi, alternating with Kanna Hashimoto, Mone Kamishiraishi and Rina Kawaei) family are driving to a new town when they stop off to check out an ancient building. Once inside they find a market full of food stalls but nobody manning them, so Chihiro's parents help themselves, promising to pay once somebody arrives. But as night falls the market will transform into a place for 8 million gods to congregate in, and as fairytale logic applies the parents will be transformed into pigs for their gluttony.
