Four Singaporeans making magic in My Neighbour Totoro

Lead actress Victoria Chen, puppeteers Rachel Clare Chan and Amber Lin, and assistant stage manager Alicia Quah are part of Royal Shakespeare Company adaptation

- Shawn Hoo

Scoring a lead role in My Neighbour Totoro for her West End debut is a major coup for Singaporean actress Victoria Chen, but the cherry on top of the cake is that she is joined by three other Singaporeans – on stage and backstage.

"We're a tiny little country and we're crushing it internationally now. To have four of us on this West End production reaffirms my belief that we have so much talent," says Chen, who plays four-year-old Mei and declines to reveal her age. She graduated from the School of the Arts (Sota) in 2012.

All four London-based Singaporeans have been fans of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki's 1988 Studio Ghibli film of the same name from a young age.

Watching the all-Asian cast play at the Barbican Centre in 2022 and 2023 had inspired them to audition or apply for their respective roles of actor, puppeteer and assistant stage manager.

My Neighbour Totoro, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, broke the Barbican's box-office record for ticket sales in one day. The play opened for its first preview at the Gillian Lynne Theatre on March 8 and is set to play through Nov 2.

Speaking to The Straits Times on a Zoom call from the stairwell of the London theatre that birthed iconic stage musicals such as Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, Chen – a middle child – says she is drawing from every life experience for this role.

"I have been – in my life – both Satsuki, the older sister, and Mei, the younger sister. I'm picking from all my memories and family relationships, and using them to create this new relationship right now."

The puppetry-heavy play, which won six Oliver Awards, follows the two young sisters as they relocate to the countryside to be closer to their hospitalised mother.

In their new house, they encounter and befriend spirits, such as a giant furry forest chimera named Totoro, which is also the official mascot for Studio Ghibli.