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Magical and reassuring
An astonishing Royal Shakespeare Company production of Miyazaki's classic animation reconnects WILL STONE with his inner child
( to R) Mei (Mei Mac), Satsuki (Ami Okumura Jones) and their father Tatsuo (Dai Tabuchi)
[Manuel Harlan] 
JAMES CROSSLEY applauds a lucid biography of the German radical preacher who reemerged as a hero in the GDR
Prizes all round: the Bard hands plaudits to the Miners Gala, OT&JC, Joe Solo, Black Sabbath’s frontman and the Lionesses
Star cartoonist JAMIE BRITTON is in awe of a graphic novel of epic proportions that explores class, religion and globalisation via the strange cultivation of Ginseng in the US Midwest
GUILLERMO THOMAS is intrigued by a history of the Middle East that demonstrates how promising post colonial beginnings were snuffed out by Western imperialist interests
MARIA DUARTE recommends the intricate study of a high-performance and highly dysfuntional German family
My Neighbour Totoro
Barbican
ADAPTING everyone’s favourite Miyazaki film to stage is no mean feat. How on Earth does a production even begin to represent the giant cartoon hero, a sort of oversized rabbit, or the fantastical Catbus? Prepare to be amazed.
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has teamed up with composer Joe Hisaishi, who worked on the original soundtrack and scored many other films from the great Japanese animator and his Studio Ghibli, to create something as magical and unique in its own right.
Director Phelim McDermott, known for staging ambitious operas including Philip Glass’s Akhnaten and Satyagraha, and adaptor Tom Morton-Smith stay true to the whimsical imagination of the 1988 flick while giving it a whole new dimension for the stage.
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