Leader Weekends: Theatre Review (My Neighbour Totoro & Superhigh Resolution)

<p>Is the Royal Shakespeare Company’s <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/my-neighbour-totoro-barbican-studio-ghibli-theatre-review-b1033681.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">My Neighbour Totoro</a>, adapted by Studio Ghibli, worth a stage at the Barbican? Production design wizardry shifts two dimensional puppetry to 3D in nods to the Hayao Miyazaki’s joyous 1988 Japanese fantasy animation. Plus, the on-stage 12-legged cat bus, floppy chickens and “soot sprites”...</p><p>Also up for discussion is <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/superhigh-resolution-soho-theatre-review-nhs-play-b1037136.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Superhigh Resolution</a> at the Soho Theatre, a hard-hitting and timely tale about the state of the NHS.</p><p>The Evening Standard’s chief theatre critic Nick Curtis joins culture editor, Nancy Durrant, to review two more shows from London’s stages.</p><br><p><strong>Part 1: My Neighbour Totoro at the Barbican</strong></p><p>-What is My Neighbour Totoro about?</p><p>-The consoling figure from the forest, but does the play lack jeopardy?</p><p>-The puppets – the most ‘chickeny chickens’ on the WestEnd ever, puppeteers, direction and cast</p><p>-The music score, sung in Japanese and English, by Joe Hisashi</p><p>-Was the show too long, and was the acting any good?</p><p>-The floating cat that isn’t neutered</p><br><p><strong>Part 2: Superhigh Resolution at the Soho Theatre</strong></p><p>-The bang up to the minute story of a junior NHS doctor</p><p>-Why it’s reminiscent of Tennessee Williams’s style</p><p>-Why it’s an important, sometimes funny, but tough watch</p><p>-Why you shouldn’t go Christmas shopping after watching the show</p><p>-Jasmine Blackborow’s ‘deeply affecting’ central performance</p><p>-The brilliant ingenious and simple set, entirely made by hospital curtains – by Andrew Edwards</p><br><p>What to watch in London right now? Well, this is your Theatre Review from the Evening Standard.</p><br><p>For all the latest visit