Last year, the above teaser image was posted online. It announced that classic anime Princess Mononoke was coming to the London stage. Pictures of said collaboration have surfaced online in Japan, where some seem totally shocked by the production.
Studio Ghibli allowed London’s Whole Hog Theatre to bring its anime to the stage. Thus, this is an official production — of sorts. That could explain the kneejerk reaction.
Online in Japan, people seem utterly gob smacked by photos of the play. “What is this, a school play?” wrote one individual on 2ch, Japan’s largest internet forum. “What is this, an international school play?” retorted another.
Others were not happy with the cast, saying the product got it all wrong and wondering why it was filled with foreigners. (In the play’s defence, this is a British production!)
As first mentioned last year, the production’s puppets were largely made from discarded wooded and plastic bottles, which underscores Princess Mononoke‘s ecological themes — but this also might might give the whole production a somewhat ramshackle look to those expecting something more polished.
While the reaction online in Japan wasn’t so great, Mainichi is reporting that the production received a standing ovation during on its opening night in London.
Often, theatre productions don’t photograph well. theatre is a live performance art that should be experienced in person. And hopefully these online critics will, so they can better judge for themselves. The production is now playing in Tokyo until May 6 .
舞台版『もののけ姫』のクオリティが酷すぎると話題に [2ch]
ついに舞台版「もののけ姫」の日本公演が開幕！[Cinema Cafe]
Comments
4 responses to “Princess Mononoke Stage Production Surprises People Online In Japan”
This looks awesome. Totally awesome.
You must get easily satisfied by crap.
In all honesty, it doesn’t look awesome. I imagine it is awesome, but as the author stated and most people know, theatre does not capture well in general.
I hope it is an awesome play and it is successful so it comes to Brisbane!
Doesn’t seem all that bad, the wolves especially look kinda bad but the reasons for it make up for it a little. Honestly it’d be weirder and worse if it was an all Japanese/asian cast considering that would severely limit the pool of talent you have in a production being made in Britain.
I’m going to assume you have never seen the actual film because your comment is stupid. It is a Japanese story, set in Japan and made by the Japanese – why would they want some bogus shite to represent their work?
That looks terrible? Why did they get a guy to play Mononoke?
I’ve seen better costumes by cos-players they made themselves.
We are making it povo to go with the themes of the play? Really?
the only comment that makes sense on here