My Neighbour Totoro is playing at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in Covent Garden, London, until 3 January 2027. The producers have confirmed this as the final extension of the West End run, so the number of remaining performances is now fixed. The Royal Shakespeare Company and Joe Hisaishi’s stage version of the Studio Ghibli film puts Satsuki, Mei, the Catbus and Totoro himself in front of a live audience, using puppetry, physical performance and a live orchestra rather than projection or screens.
My Neighbour Totoro in the West End
The Totoro stage show at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, with Ghibli’s forest spirits as full size puppets- Address
- 166 Drury Lane, Covent Garden, London, WC2B 5PW
- Admission
- Tickets £25 to £89.50, premium seats from £99.50
- Starts
- August 17, 2026
- Ends
- January 3, 2027
More about the event
- Olivier sweep
- Six wins at the 2023 Olivier Awards, including Best Set Design for Tom Pye, Best Costume Design for Kimie Nakano and Best Sound Design for Tony Gayle.
- Who built the creatures
- The puppets were made by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, the workshop behind The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, working to Basil Twist’s designs.
- Studio Ghibli set one condition
- Hisaishi proposed the stage version himself, and Studio Ghibli agreed on a single condition: that Hisaishi took personal responsibility for it. He is credited as executive producer.
- The creatures are inflatable
- Puppetry director Basil Twist wanted Totoro to feel squishy and large, so the forest spirits inflate rather than being built as rigid costumes or rod puppets.
- The puppeteers wear blue
- The operators work in all blue costumes based on kazego, the wind spirits, an approach designed to make them visible and invisible at the same time.
Satsuki, Mei and the spirits in the woods
The story follows the one in the film. Two sisters, Satsuki and Mei, move to the countryside with their father while their mother is in hospital, and find that the house and the woods around it are shared with creatures only they can see. It is a quiet story with very little conflict in it, and the stage version keeps that pace rather than adding jeopardy to suit a theatre audience.
What the production adds is scale and craft. The set opens out and folds away in front of you, the forest arrives in pieces carried by visible performers, and the creatures are operated in full view. Small children tend to respond to the puppets and the noise; adults tend to respond to the mother. Both work in the same room, which is a large part of why the show has run as long as it has.
The puppets and Joe Hisaishi’s live score
Puppetry direction and design are by Basil Twist, with Mervyn Millar of War Horse as puppetry associate. The forest spirits appear at several different sizes, as they do in the film, and the Catbus is built to carry performers. The puppeteers stay on stage in full view for most of the show, so you watch the creatures being made to move as well as watching them move.
The music is Hisaishi’s own. His film score has been newly orchestrated for the stage by Will Stuart and is played live by musicians at every performance, with a singer performing the vocal material. If you already know the pieces Hisaishi wrote for the 1988 film, you will recognise the main themes as they arrive, arranged for a theatre pit rather than a recording studio.
Who is in the My Neighbour Totoro cast
The current company has Helen Chong as Satsuki, in her West End principal debut, and Victoria Chen as Mei. Dai Tabuchi plays the girls’ father Tatsuo, Jacqueline Tate plays Granny, and Ai Ninomiya performs as the Singer. They are supported by a large puppetry ensemble who operate the creatures and move the set.
Casts change over a run this long, and the two lead roles in particular rotate. If you are booking to see a specific performer, check the company listed on the production’s official website close to your date.
How long is My Neighbour Totoro and who is it for
The theatre gives the running time as 2 hours 40 minutes including an interval, so an evening performance starting at 7pm will finish at around 9.40pm. It is performed in English.
Age guidance is 6 and over. Children under 4 are not admitted, and anyone under 16 needs an adult aged 18 or over seated with them for the whole performance. Younger children who know the film usually manage it well, though the theatre is dark and the Catbus is loud.
From the Barbican to the West End
The production had its world premiere at the Barbican Theatre in October 2022 and sold out that run. It returned to the Barbican in late 2023 and played into early 2024, then transferred to the Gillian Lynne Theatre in March 2025 for its first open ended West End run. It passed a year at the Gillian Lynne in March 2026.
Event information
- Event: My Neighbour Totoro
- Booking until: Sunday, 3 January 2027, the final London performance
- Performance times: 7pm Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 2pm and 7pm Thursday and Saturday; 2pm Sunday
- Venue: Gillian Lynne Theatre
- Address: 166 Drury Lane, Covent Garden, London, WC2B 5PW
- Nearest stations: Covent Garden and Holborn
- Running time: 2 hours 40 minutes including an interval
- Age guidance: 6 and over, under 4s not admitted
- Tickets: From £25, with premium seats from £99.50
Gillian Lynne Theatre
Booking My Neighbour Totoro tickets before the London run ends
Prices split by day. Off peak performances from Tuesday to Thursday run from £25 to £75, with premium seats from £99.50. Peak performances from Friday to Sunday run from £32.50 to £89.50, with premium seats from £125. Booking direct through the theatre avoids booking fees, though a £1.70 restoration levy is included in the price.
Two schemes bring the cost down. Acorn performances price every seat in the house at £30, £40 or £50 on selected dates, which is the cheapest way to sit somewhere good. There is also a family offer on selected autumn performances outside peak weeks, where up to four children under 18 go half price with each adult ticket.
With a confirmed closing date, availability on weekend and school holiday dates will tighten first, and the Acorn performances tend to go early. The theatre also releases a handful of £30 day seats in the stalls, sold first come, first served. Current prices and dates are listed on the booking pages for the remaining performances.
No tour or return has been announced after 3 January
Nothing has been scheduled to follow the Gillian Lynne run. No UK tour or return season has been announced, so the performances between now and Sunday 3 January 2027 are the last confirmed chance to see this production in Britain.
The closing date has already moved once. The final extension was announced in May 2026 with a closing date of 10 January 2027, and the producers brought it forward by a week in September. Several ticket listings and theatre guides still show the older date, so check the final performance date on the booking page before planning a trip around it.
The last assisted performances and the 5 December touch tour
Four assisted performances are left before the run ends, each on a single date.
- BSL interpreted: Sunday 11 October 2026, 2pm
- Relaxed: Sunday 8 November 2026, 2pm
- Audio described: Saturday 5 December 2026, 2pm
- Captioned: Sunday 6 December 2026, 2pm
A free touch tour runs from 12pm to 12.30pm before the audio described performance on 5 December. Places are limited to 25 and given out first come, first served, and they are booked by emailing customer.relations@lwtickets.co.uk rather than through the website. Full details for all four dates are on the production’s assisted performances page.
