a slice of tokyo life

Makoto Shinkai's beautiful award-winning anime film The Garden of Words gets its live-action stage adaptation in London, continuing the burgeoning movement of bringing Japanese animation to the stage. A profoundly beautiful tale set predominantly in Tokyo's Shinjuku Gyoen National Gardens, the original won high praise for its unique story and stunning visual style, blurring the lines between photography and animation.

Takao is a teenager with dreams of becoming a shoemaker. After bunking school to go sit in Shinjuku Gyoen Garden, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with Yukari, a 27-year-old woman grappling with disillusionment and feeling directionless. The close mutual understanding they build could be the thing that either saves them both, or destroy them.