Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away stage show headed to UK for limited 2024 run | Theatre | Entertainment

It’s been 20 years since Japanese animation legends Studio Ghibli won an Oscar for Spirited Away. 

Hayao Miyazaki’s fantasy masterpiece follows a girl called Chihiro whose parents are turned into pigs before she enters a world where a witch rules a magical bathhouse for spirits.

Last year the stage adaptation opened in Japan’s Imperial Theatre and is now headed to London’s West End for a limited run in 2024.

This follows the acclaimed stage version of Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbour Totoro, which resumes at the Barbican later this year.

Spirited Away’s European Premiere is set to open at the London Coliseum in April 2024 for a 12-week limited season.

The announcement included: “Following a sell-out tour of Japan in 2022, the original Japanese cast including Kanna Hashimoto and Mone Kamishiraishi, who play Chihiro, will perform this spectacular production for a strictly limited London season. 

“The production will be presented in the original Japanese, with English captions. Miyazaki’s masterpiece is brought beautifully to life with a live orchestra playing the magnificent film score by Joe Hisaishi arranged by Brad Haak (Mary Poppins), dazzling set design by Jon Bausor (Bat Out of Hell), wildly imaginative puppets designed by Toby Olié (Pinocchio: National Theatre), choreography by Shigehiro Ide (NODA MAP Series), and lavish costumes by Sachiko Nakahara.

Director, John Caird. “I am proud and delighted to present the original Japanese stage production of Spirited Away at the Coliseum Theatre next year. We had a wonderful time creating the show in 2022 and I’m so happy now to be spiriting away a British audience into Hayao Miyazaki’s magical world. A world of gods and frogs, dragons and sorcerers, giant-sized babies and bouncing heads, spider-armed boilermen, no-faced loners and a young girl’s valiant quest for courage, identity and love.” 

Toshio Suzuki, Producer of Studio Ghibli added: “The day we first met John Caird, Hayao Miyazaki and I thought he was the perfect director for the production –– that was the beginning of this project. It was thanks to the hard work of John, the cast, and all those involved that the premiere production received such high acclaim. I wish to express my deepest respect to all involved in the creation of this monumental piece of theatre. I really look forward to Spirited Away being enjoyed by audiences in London.”

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