Chihiro and co. are hitting the stage!
In what might be the greatest news since Netflix announced that all the Studio Ghibli films were arriving, Spirited Away is receiving the theatrical treatment and is due to hit stages around the world in 2022. [Featured Image: @ghibliuk, Instagram].
Sen (aka Chihiro), her pig parents, No-Face, and all the gang will first hit the stage at the world premiere in Tokyo in February in 2022 if all goes to plan. Then, the stage play will tour Japan and possibly hit other parts of Asia and Europe. Given that the man adapting and directing the play is John Caird – longtime Royal Shakespeare Company member, and the original co-director of London’s unstoppable Les Misérables – you’d hope and expect it will make its way to London at some stage!
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Caird said: “I feel so excited and privileged to be working on the first-ever stage adaptation of Sen to Chihiro [Spirited Away].
“I have for many years now regarded Miyazaki Hayao as one of the pre-eminent geniuses of world cinema and the greatest ever proponent of the anime form.”
He went on to add: “I share a belief in all the most dominant themes of Miyazaki’s work, themes that are at the core of the Sen to Chihiro world — care for the environment, reverence for nature, a belief in the force of the good spirits within us and the empowerment of young women and men to change the world for the better,”
“I am looking forward with great pleasure to deepening my partnership with my dear friends at Toho through a new relationship with Studio Ghibli and Suzuki Toshio, their most generous and inventive lead producer.”
Caird has already cast actresses Kanna Hashimoto and Mone Kamishiraish to play Chihiro in the tale, which follows the 10-year-old’s quest to get her parents home safely from a world inhabited by ghosts and spirits. It’s already got the blessing and full support of Studio Ghibli, and hopefully it’ll be touring the world before long!