Spirited Away

Note: This production is performed in Japanese with English subtitles.

If you’re a fan of the famed Japanese anime studio, Studio Ghibli, or its founder and leading creative Hayao Miyazaki, Spirited Away will need no introduction and you’re probably giddy with delight for this production. If you’re not aware of either, then you’ve a cinematic world of delight to look forward to, and Spirited Away is an outstanding starting point.

Covering many of the themes common with Miyazaki’s other work Spirited Away uses a magical mysticism to help its child protagonist come to terms with their situation. In Spirited Away, the story focusses on Chihiro’s (Kanna Hashimoto) transition into adulthood and addresses elements such as selflessness, memory, and fear of the unknown.

On driving to their new home in the suburbs, Chihiro’s father takes a wrong turn, and they end up in an abandoned theme park… but all is not as it initially seems. The park is in fact a bathhouse run by spirits for the gods. Chihiro’s parents inadvertently eat some of the gods’ food and are turned into pigs. Stuck in the spirit world, Chihiro must work out how she can save her parents and all return to the human world.

Chihiro is befriended by Haku (Kotaro Daigo), a spirit working at the bathhouse, who helps her navigate this spirit world and, especially, deal with the tyrannical and financially greedy bathhouse owner, Yubaba (Romi Park). On her journey, she is pushed out of her comfort zone, learns to focus on what needs to be done, and stand up for what she believes is right.

The film of Spirited Away has been captivating audiences for over 20 years, and now this stage production aims to bring that same joy to a live show. And, for the most part, it’s quite successful. The production is visually as magical as that of the film. Jon Bausor’s set design is a sight to behold. It rotates, rises, and drops to convey the multi-roomed bathhouse and its magical surrounds with mesmeric accuracy. The use of handheld wall-panels creates movable features that give the space even more flexibility and functionality. Sachiko Nakahara’s costume design, Hiroaki Miyauchi’s make-up and Toby Olié’s mind-bending puppetry design work seamlessly to faithfully and beautifully recreate the vast range of spirits and gods that inhabit the bathhouse.

Add to this the pitch perfect performances from the cast and this show is set to be a triumphant success. Unfortunately, that’s not quite the case. For all the delights that Spirited Away offers the eyes, and there are many, it offers precious little for the soul. In faithfully recreating the film on stage, the makers seem to have forgotten that there needs to be an emotional connection as well as a visual stimulus. This is further compounded by the fact the performance is done in Japanese, and whilst this gives a wonderful authenticity to the story, it makes it very hard to focus on the physical performances whilst also keeping track of the narrative. For people unfamiliar with the film the narrative becomes a convoluted and confusing mess.

There is much to be admired in Spirited Away. Its artistry, technical wizardry, and creativity are all beyond compare, but its lack of emotional engagement leaves one feeling disappointingly unsatisfied.

Summary Phrase: A visual delight within an emotional void.

Sonny Waheed