Director John Caird: I envisioned Chihiro stage images like Miyazaki
Creatrip Team
2 months ago
John Caird, the veteran British director who adapted Hayao Miyazaki’s animated film Spirited Away into a stage play, discussed the challenges at a Seoul press briefing. Caird said Miyazaki granted permission early, but translating the film’s painterly, image-driven storytelling into a dialogue-centered theater form required him to think in images first. He and co-adapter Maoko Imai (his wife) worked across continents during the COVID-19 pandemic, coordinating designers in London and arrangers in Chicago by Zoom. Imai, a Japanese actress and long-time collaborator, emphasized preserving the story’s Japanese character during adaptation. The production draws on traditional Japanese theatrical forms such as Noh (mask drama) and Bunraku (puppet theater), stages the bathhouse as a Noh-like space, and features live rearrangements of Joe Hisaishi’s score with two new songs by arranger Brad Haack. The play, after successful runs in Japan, the UK and China, is performing at Seoul Arts Center’s Opera House through March 22. (Noh: a classical Japanese mask drama; Bunraku: traditional Japanese puppet theater)
