The world premiere of *My Neighbour Totoro* triumphed at the 2023 Olivier Awards, winning six categories out of its nine nominations at the ceremony. It’s a good time for the Studio Ghibli stage adaptation, too, as *My Neighbour Totoro* will open in the West End next year, with performances at the [Gillian Lynne Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/gillian-lynne-theatre) from 8 March.

Based on Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 Studio Ghibli film, *My Neighbour Totoro* follows Satsuki and Mei,...

Here's why 'My Neighbour Totoro' deserved all the Oliviers

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Based on Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 Studio Ghibli film, *My Neighbour Totoro* will return to London later next year, opening at the Gillian Lynne Theatre.

Next year, the [Royal Shakespeare Company’s](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/stars-on-stage/royal-shakespeare-company) triumphant 2022 stage adaptation of [*My Neighbour Totoro*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/25389-my-neighbour-totoro) heads to the West End's [Gillian Lynne Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/gillian-lynne-theatre) for a third run due to enormous popular demand. The show won six Olivier Awards and broke the Barbican’s box office record for the most tickets...

What to expect from London shows based on Studio Ghibli films

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Studio Ghibli is a renowned Japanese animation film studio founded in 1985. They are known for creating imaginative movies, including *My Neighbour Totoro* and *Spirited Away*.

A stage adaptation of television comedy *Inside No 9* will arrive in the West End next year. The show opens for a 12-week run at Wyndham's Theatre from 18 January 2025.

The TV show's original writers and performers Steve Pemberton (*The Pillowman*) and Reece Shearsmith (*A Very Expensive Poison*) will star in the West End show, titled *Stage/Fright*, which will blend original material with familiar characters from the series. 

Speaking about the announcement, Pemberton and Shearsmith said:...

Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's 'Inside No 9' to be adapted for the West End 

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The TV show's original creators Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith will star in the West End adaptation when it opens next year. 

The hit musical comedy *Titanique* has confirmed plans for a West End run later this year. The show is currently performing at Off-Broadway venue the Daryl Roth Theatre.

The musical, which is co-written by Tye Blue, Marla Mindelle, and Constantine Rousouli, has received critical acclaim and multiple awards since its premiere off Broadway at Asylum Theater in 2022.

The parody of James Cameron's Oscar-winning *Titanic* film features a raft of Celine Dion’s iconic songs including “My Heart Will...

'Titanique' confirms planned West End run

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The musical has received critical acclaim and multiple awards since its premiere off Broadway at Asylum Theater in 2022. It is currently at the Daryl Roth Theatre.

The British writer James Graham is on an incredible run at the moment. He just won the Olivier Award for Best New Play for *Dear England*, a fantastic drama about football manager Gareth Southgate, which enticed new audiences into theatre, and the musical *Tammy Faye*, for which he supplied the book, is opening on Broadway this autumn.

He’s also a prolific screenwriter, with recent hits including the crime series *Sherwood* and the dystopian drama *The Way*. Graham has that rare combination of...

Learn more about James Graham’s career ahead of 'Boys from the Blackstuff'

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From plays *Dear England* and *This House* to TV hits like *Sherwood*, Graham is unstoppable – and now his *Boys from the Blackstuff* is coming to the West End.

The bright lights of West End theatres are always appealing, but there are also a number of exciting Off-West End venues in the capital, such as the small but mighty [Bush Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/bush-theatre), which is nestled in west London.

This theatre has always punched above its weight, launching the careers of hugely successful writers such as James Graham and Lucy Kirkwood, as well as actors like Victoria Wood, Alan Rickman, Andrew Scott, and Phoebe...

A complete guide to the Bush Theatre

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Get to know this exciting new-writing venue in west London, which has launched the careers of Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Victoria Wood, among others.

The acclaimed screen and stage actor Ben Whishaw is back in town, starring in the premiere of Margaret Perry’s *[Bluets](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/39930-bluets)* at the Royal Court. The play is an adaptation of Maggie Nelson’s book and follows someone obsessed with the colour blue – taking in artists like Joni Mitchell and Billie Holiday as they navigate a devastating heartbreak.

Whishaw is joined in *Bluets* by *House of the Dragon* star Emma D’Arcy and *The Girl Before*’s Kayla...

Learn more about Ben Whishaw's career ahead of 'Bluets' at the Royal Court

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The James Bond and *Paddington* actor is co-starring in this new adaptation of Maggie Nelson's book *Bluets* with Emma D'Arcy and Kayla Meikle.

It’s another fantastic year for [Shakespeare plays](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/whats-on/shakespeare) in London, and as the weather (finally!) improves, you can start getting those outdoor shows in the diary, as well as all of the brilliant productions in the West End and beyond.

If you’re after a fresh take on the Bard, you’re definitely in luck. Sir Ian McKellen is already wowing audiences, giving his Falstaff a dynamic new spin in Robert Icke's adaptation of *Henry IV*, *[Player...

See modern adaptations and outdoor productions of Shakespeare plays in London

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From Ian McKellen in *Player Kings* to an incredible open-air season at Shakespeare's Globe, there's a wide variety of shows on offer in London.

You just can’t beat family when it comes to riveting drama. Perhaps that’s because no one gets under your skin quite like the people you love and who know you best – and who are bonded to you by blood, like it or not. From Greek tragedy through Shakespearean slanging matches and contemporary clans, shows with family drama at their centre have always ruled our stages.

That’s certainly true of London theatre this year, which features a range of bickering families – from plays like *[Long Day's...

Watch West End family dramas on the London stage

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Enter the homes of these loving but fraught families in West End plays such as *Long Day's Journey Into Night* and musicals like *Back to the Future*.

Get ready for what promises to be the most talked-about play of the year. Hollywood star John Lithgow will play Roald Dahl in a new drama, *[Giant](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/39984-giant)*, which sees the famous author about to release his children’s book *The Witches*, but then rocked by a scandal surrounding anti-Semitic comments he made in an article.

Mark Rosenblatt’s debut play, directed by Nicholas Hytner (artistic director of the Bridge Theatre), also stars Elliot Levey...

Learn more about John Lithgow's career ahead of him playing Roald Dahl in 'Giant'

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The Tony and Emmy-winning Hollywood actor is starring in Mark Rosenblatt’s provocative new play *Giant* at the Royal Court in London this autumn.

Oh yes he is! See [Ian McKellen](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/stars-on-stage/ian-mckellen) as a pantomime dame in [*Mother Goose*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/26888-mother-goose-duke-of-yorks-theatre) at the [Duke of York’s Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/duke-of-yorks-theatre) to 29 January. Book *Mother Goose* tickets on London Theatre.

The *Mother Goose* pantomime follows the title character and her husband Vic as they run an animal sanctuary. When they discover a goose can lay golden eggs, they enjoy a life of fame and fortune. John Bishop and Anna-Jane Casey star. 

*Mother Goose* is at the Duke of York’s Theatre.

Book *Mother Goose* tickets on London Theatre.

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First look: See Ian McKellen and John Bishop in ‘Mother Goose’ photos 

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Oh no he isn’t? Oh yes he is! Ian McKellen returns to pantomime for the first time in 17 years – alongside the hilarious John Bishop - in *Mother Goose* at the Duke of York’s Theatre. 

*Mother Goose* in London offers audiences the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see Ian McKellen play a pantomime dame. The six-time Olivier Award-winning actor is best known for roles in *King Lear, No Man’s Land*, and *Uncle Vanya*. McKellen even toured the country in 2019, visiting 80 theatres as part of his octogenarian celebrations. Now, you can see McKellen rouge his cheeks and lips to play the title role in Mother Goose and spread joy. There’s plenty of comic relief too, thanks to comedian John Bishop as Mother Goose’s husband, Vic.

Like many beloved pantomime characters, the Mother Goose character is rooted in history. *Mother Goose* was popularised in a collection of Charles Perrault’s 18th century French fairytales, translated to *Tales of My Mother Goose*. Some even argue that *Mother Goose* stems from 10th century ancient legends, or even as early as the Bible.

Nowadays, most people are familiar with the early 20th-century adaptation of the *Mother Goose* story. In 1902, J. Hickory Wood created a pantomime for popular English music hall comedian Dan Leno. In the Victorian version, Mother Goose is tempted with a wealthy life by the devil. Elements of the 1902 pantomime remain in the *Mother Goose* play, but *Coronation Street* writer Jonathan Harvey now adapts *Mother Goose* with a 2022 twist, so expect side-splitting jokes and tap dancing animals.

## What is the story of the *Mother Goose* pantomime?

Set in an abandoned department store, Mother Goose and her husband Vic run an animal sanctuary. They’re used to looking after stray animals, but suddenly a goose that lays golden eggs flies into their lap. What do you do with a goose that lays golden eggs? As Mother Goose and Vic enjoy a newfound life of fame and fortune, the pair must do all it takes to remain calm and collected.

Mother Goose - Duke of York's Theatre - LON - London Theatre

Meet Mother Goose and Vic Goose. They live a comfortable life. But when a magical goose comes to greet them, will fame and fortune change their life? Ian McKellen, John Bishop, and Anna-Jane Casey lead the all-star pantomime in the West End. Get *Mother Goose* tickets at the Duke of York's Theatre today.

Don’t miss the chance to see Ian McKellen and John Bishop in pantomime. The Olivier Award-winning actor is best known for dramatic Shakespeare plays — he even toured the country in 2019 with *Ian McKellen on Stage* where he revealed secrets about his West End career. There’s bound to be Shakespeare jokes with Ian McKellen playing Mother Goose, the pantomime dame.

*Mother Goose* isn’t just for Christmas, it’s for life! *Mother Goose* is the first pantomime of its kind to tour across the United Kingdom, with performances through April 2023 and beyond. But if you’re looking for a hit of winter theatre to warm you up, you’ll want to see *Mother Goose* in London.

## What to Watch For:

- Ian McKellen returns to pantomime for the first time in 17 years. He played Widow Twankey in *Aladdin* at the Old Vic.
- John Bishop will play Vic, Mother Goose’s husband. The Liverpool-based comedian played Doctor Who’s companion, Dan Lewis — starring alongside Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor.
- J. Hickory Wood adapted the *Mother Goose* fairy tale into a pantomime in the early 1900s. The popular comedian Dan Leno played the title character, continuing the tradition of the “dame” character where a man plays a woman.
- Most pantomimes include topical jokes based on current events, as well as the celebrities who are taking part in the show. This year, *Coronation Street* writer Jonathan Harvey will write the Mother Goose jokes. 

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Not every theatre actor would continue working into his 80s but here’s [Ian McKellen](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/stars-on-stage/ian-mckellen), who turns 84 in May, returning yet again to the stage at a time in life when many of his colleagues might prefer simply to rest. Not for the screen’s Gandalf and Magneto a further foray into the Shakespeare repertoire (Hamlet, Lear, his Bard-heavy solo show) that has kept him busy of late.

This time round, “Serena” – as the show campily and affectionately renames its internationally renowned star – is donning a variety of body-hugging outfits, outré wigs and the like to play Caroline Goose, aka the bosomy Mother Goose that gives Jonathan Harvey’s buoyant West End panto its title. The show, joyously directed by Cal McCrystal, of *One Man, Two Guvnors* renown, is not to be confused with the concurrent entertainment of the same name at the Hackney Empire and starring Clive Rowe.

The references come thick and fast, from Harry and Meghan to past and present Tory grandees, musical theatre excerpts ranging from *A Chorus Line*'s “One” to “Don’t Rain On My Parade”, McKellen’s megawatt grin all the while powering an altogether giddy evening: the actor looks as if he’s having the time of his life and the expert ensemble around him gleefully, on occasion recklessly follow his lead: Oscar Conlon-Morrey’s sweet Jack – here given his own Jill – shares in some untamed tongue action that has to be seen to be believed.

Presiding over an animal sanctuary that was once a Debenhams department store, this Mother Goose isn’t the fairy tale figure of panto lore but a fame-seeking comic ringleader. Wife to John Bishop’s entirely adorable Vic Goose (“I love this man,” McKellen says in passing of his stage spouse), the eponymous waterfowl indulges innuendo about “greasing the bottom” and “raw materials” and meta-reflections on becoming a “mega-global superstar”. 

There’s a nod toward political rebellion in a plot strand involving non-payment to the utilities that are making this winter a challenge for so many. We’re urged to jeer “the energy company” every time that phrase is spoken, and the show’s Boris Johnson out-snouts, to coin a verb, Peppa the Pig. 

The script reminds us of McKellen’s own origins, age 8, discovering panto at the Grand Theatre in his native Lancashire town of Bolton. But it also whooshes into the here and now to accommodate COVID-era super-spreader events – and droll aspersions in the direction of the Palladium offering across town just now with Julian Clary. That *Jack and the Beanstalk* is Goose’s main rival in this year’s celebrity-panto sweepstakes.

I’ve seen McKellen tread similar terrain before, as the Widow Twankey in the Old Vic’s Aladdin nearly 20 years ago. But his game participation on that occasion didn’t prepare me for the breadth of double entendres this time out (a deadpan mention, for instance, of “tossing in my sleep”) or his ability to still the house with Portia’s “quality of mercy” speech from *The Merchant of Venice*; we soon find that Bishop, a long-established staple of the comedy circuit, can navigate his way just fine through Shakespearean verse, as well. 

Liz Ascroft’s sets and costumes suggest a touring production – the show travels the UK and Ireland into April - that has spent proper money on its visuals. A sumptuous vertical bed allows for beneath-the-duvet hijinks whilst headgear finds Camilla Parker Bowles (Genevieve Nicole, fabulous) struggling to navigate an outsized hat through a too-low doorway. Mama Goose’s post-interval sartorial parade extends to a mop-like tray table atop McKellen’s head that is itself a thing of wonder.

The prevailing good nature grants a change of heart to the resident baddie, Malignia (*X Factor* alumna Karen Mavundukure, in sprightly form). Elsewhere, a clarion-voiced Cilla Quack (yes, you read that right) gets a *Les Mis*-style imprisonment followed soon by the ability of the protean Anna-Jane Casey, playing Cilla, to give us her best Barbra Streisand. Casey, seen this time last year in the ongoing West End revival of *Cabaret*, is once again indispensable. 

The show may feel freeform, even anarchic, but courses with an abiding respect for theatrical tradition:  Peter Pan, we’re informed, premiered at this same theatre in 1904, and Judi Dench and Derek Jacobi are foregrounded every bit as readily as the music of ABBA, Sunset Boulevard, and the World Cup. 

By the time the climactic singalong arrives to the familiar tune of “Sweet Caroline,” the audience is nodding as one to the lyric, “good times never seemed so good”. The world may be a dark and often difficult place, but lucky are we to be transported via Gooseland Airways to a rapture-inducing realm of sheer and total bliss.

*Mother Goose* is at the Duke of York's Theatre through 29 January. Book *Mother Goose* tickets on London Theatre.

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*Photo credit: Ian McKellen and John Bishop (Photo by Manuel Harlan)*

'Mother Goose' review — Ian McKellen leads a megawatt pantomime for the ages

Sir Ian McKellen was born in Burnley&nbsp;in 1939. He was drawn to the theatre from the age of three&nbsp;following a trip to Manchester's Opera House to see Peter Pan. At the age of 18 he attended St Catherine's College in Cambridge where he became a member of the Marlowe Society. His contemporaries&nbsp;included Trevor Nunn and <a href="/actor-profile/derek-jacobi">Derek Jacobi.</a>

After a period working in repertory theatres around the UK, he became a member of Laurence Olivier’s <a href="/theatres/national-theatre">National Theatre</a> Company in 1965. McKellen performed frequently in the Royal Shakespeare Company during the 1970s and&nbsp;1980s, taking leading roles in Macbeth in 1976 alongside Judi Dench.

Outside of his theatrical work he is probably most recognised for his roles as Gandalf the Grey/White in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Hobbit Trilogy,&nbsp;and as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto in the X-Men franchise.

2007 marked a return to the RSC and to working wth Trevor Nunn appearing in productions of The Seagulland King Lear, both shows had a residency at the <a href="/theatres/gillian-lynne-theatre">Gillian Lynne Theatre</a>. In 2009, he appeared in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot alongside his X-Men co-star Patrick Stewart at the <a href="/theatres/theatre-royal-haymarket">Theatre Royal Haymarket</a>. They would go on to reprise their roles on Broadway in Godot in 2013, the production running in rep with *No Man's Land* by Harold Pinter. &nbsp;

In September 2016, he and Stewart once again re-united on the West End Stage at the <a href="/theatres/wyndhams-theatre">Wyndhams Theatre</a> in No Man's Land. A year later,&nbsp;McKellen provided&nbsp;the voice of The Demon in the West End premiere of <a href="/show/the-exorcist">The Exorcist</a>.&nbsp;

In summer 2018, Ian McKellen played&nbsp;<a href="/show/king-lear">King Lear</a> in a transfer of Jonathan Munby’s Chichester Festival Theatre. McKellen played the role in Chichester, and told the press it was likely to be his ‘last big Shakespearean part’.&nbsp;King Lear&nbsp;transferred to the&nbsp;<a href="/theatres/duke-of-yorks-theatre">Duke of York’s Theatre</a>. For his 80th birthday, he gave a <a href="/show/ian-mckellen-on-stage">nationwide tour filled with stories, anecdotes and monologues</a>, including a three month run at the <a href="/theatres/harold-pinter-theatre">Harold Pinter Theatre.</a>&nbsp;

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Read all about Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings, X-Men) and his performances on the West End stage at LondonTheatre.co.uk

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Backstairs Billy

Penelope Wilton (Downton Abbey, Ever Decreasing Circles) and Luke Evans (Beauty and the Beast, Nine Perfect Strangers) star in Marcelo Dos Santos’ hilarious new comedy Backstairs Billy, directed by Tony and Olivier award-winning director Michael Grandage.

The Duke Of York’s Theatre opened as the Trafalgar Square Theatre in 1892.The playhouse received its current name three years later in 1895, in honour of the future King George V. 

Famous productions to play at the Duke Of York’s Theatre include David Belasco’s *Madame Butterfly* in 1900 – Puccini was in the audience and famously turned the story into an opera. J. M. Barrie's famous creation *Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up* opened at the theatre on 27 Dec. 1904.

Typically, the Duke of York's Theatre is home to short-running plays, with West End and Broadway stars appearing.

## Duke of York's Theatre Seating Information

The auditorium has three levels – Stalls, Royal Circle and Upper Circle.

The Stalls offer good legroom throughout, and the raking of the seats is very good, noticeably from Row D onwards. 

In the Royal Circles, there is no visual obstruction from the Upper Circle. 

The seats in the Upper Circle curve towards the stage. The final two rows of the Upper Circle are bench seats.

First look: See Ian McKellen and John Bishop in ‘Mother Goose’ photos

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