Princess Mononoke Comes to London Stage

[Karloff]

Princess Mononoke Comes to London Stage

Studio Ghibli's Anime Fable will be tackled by a new English theatre company in April 2013.

If you love Studio Ghibli's work and would be fascinated to see how it can be translated to the stage, best start planning a trip to London for April 2013. Princess Mononoke, the period fable about a conflict between supernatural forest guardians and the resource-gobbling humans of Iron Town, will be performed at the New Diorama by the Whole Hog Theatre company [http://www.wholehogtheatre.com/].

"Using giant puppets made from recycled materials," the New Diorama website proclaims, "visceral, physical storytelling and original live music, Studio Ghibli's epic ecological fable is re-told for the stage." Whole Hog is a very young company, and was formed in 2011 by recent graduates of Warwick University. "We enjoy the challenge of staging the unstageable," they say, and this will be their first excursion into fantasy. It's being done in co-operation with Studio Ghibli, one of the founders of which - Hayao Miyazaki - wrote and directed Princess Mononoke.

The anime Princess Mononoke is one of the most famous of Studio Ghibli's movies, and grossed over $159 million worldwide. Its scope was immense, from its raging battle scenes to its weirdly captivating monstrous imagery. It's difficult to imagine something that epic compressed to fit New Diorama's 80 seat performance space; hopefully Whole Hog has a cunning plan.

Performance dates are April 2nd to 6th 2013, at the New Diorama, Regent's Place, London. [http://www.newdiorama.com/whats-on-at-new-diorama.aspx?id=151]

Source: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5927291/classic-anime-princess-mononoke-is-being-turned-into-a-stage-play]


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[Danzavare]

Dammit! I do not have enough money to throw to see this!

Gah! This really feels like a must see too! It was my first Studio Ghibli film! D':

 

[Punch You]

Damn it, that was my favorite one of all those films!

Angle-lamd, y I no live near you?

 

[Scrustle]

Weird. These past couple of days I've been spending a lot of time listening to the music from this film, among other stuff from the same composer. But the stuff in this film is really stunning.

 

[boonryan]

this. looks. sick.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Awesome! I'd love to see this... if I didn't live "across the pond", as they say. Damned location...

 

[KaosuHamoni]

MUST. WATCH.

Seriously, I'm considering a trip to London for this. It's only 120 miles away! =D

 

[Scarim Coral]

Great, another theatre I won't get to see (I wanted to watch Monkey: Journey to the West by Damon Albarn).

 

[ThaBenMan]

Wow, that sounds really cool. Wish I could see it - Mononoke is probably my favorite anime ever, and one of my favorite movies [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.83873-Movie-Review-Princess-Mononoke#1180427] period.

 

[Palademon]

One of those moments that makes me think I'm a really bad anime fan, since I don't understand Studio Ghibli's love. I've seen Princess Mononoke. It was ok.

But many people probably wish they were me right now, since I live 40 miles from London.

 

[littlewisp]

One of those moments that makes me think I'm a really bad anime fan, since I don't understand Studio Ghibli's love. I've seen Princess Mononoke. It was ok.

But many people probably wish they were me right now, since I live 40 miles from London.

There are people who don't like the Lion King or Titanic. Just because a lot of people love something doesn't make you weird or a 'bad' fan for not liking the same things.

That said yes, very jealous. You should go see it anyways and let us know how tragic it really is (because come on, even if it sucks you don't get to see an anime adapted to theater every day!).

 

[TheGauntman]

Yeah, I'm not normally 'that guy'...

But what the fuck? What are they thinking? For me, what makes Princess Mononoke so good is its epic scope. Sweeping themes, broad landscapes, larger-than-life characters. To try and condense that onto a small stage would leech its poignancy.

 

[MetalMagpie]

Never actually seen Princess Mononoke. But I'll look out for this show as I live in London.

I loved the puppet work in War Horse and His Dark Materials, and I've got a real itch to see more good theatre puppetry. The theatre website says they're building theirs from recycled materials, so that could be interesting too.

What are the odds of this show ever being on video?

Pretty slim. Very few shows in London get filmed - even the really big ones like War Horse. I think the idea is that releasing a video reduces ticket sales for any future runs of the show you might want to do. Your better hope is that - if this actually does really well - it might be re-staged by a bigger theatre company who could take it on an international tour.

 

[MetalMagpie]

Yeah, I'm not normally 'that guy'...

But what the fuck? What are they thinking? For me, what makes Princess Mononoke so good is its epic scope. Sweeping themes, broad landscapes, larger-than-life characters. To try and condense that onto a small stage would leech its poignancy.

I would have said the same before I saw His Dark Materials on stage. That production was completely mind-blowing. Whenever the story needed it to be epic and huge it really did feel epic and huge, because the actors maintained the illusion that they were actually standing in a far bigger landscape than was represented by the stage. And thanks to the quality of the acting, the shocking moments had (for me) even more impact than the books. (I nearly screamed when Lyra found the "cut" daemons.) Larger-than-life characters like the armoured bears were brought to life through clever costumes and puppets.

True, that was at the National Theatre, but any decent theatre production has an immediacy that makes up for its lack of Hollywood visuals. It's far more affecting to watch a real person struggle in front of you than it is to watch a collection of lines on a screen (or even a person on a screen).

All that said, this company was founded by a group who graduated university in 2011. So it would be silly to expect a masterwork. Many small companies do quite ambitious/outlandish productions as a way to get noticed and sell tickets. And good for them.

 

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

i never saw the anime before so i don't have any thoughts on this beyond this is the first time i ever heard of an anime going to stage
so the results should be interesting

 

[Shjade]

I dunno...a stage version of Mononoke could be pretty nifty, but a stage that small? I just don't know.