Yesterday I took the train down to London to see a performance of Howl's Moving Castle at the
Southwark Playhouse.
I was curious to see how the many fantastical elements of one of my all time favourite books could be translated to stage. I am a major fan of Studio Ghibli's film interpretation of Howl's Moving Castle even though at times it varies hugely to the original novel, so I was expecting a level of personal interpretation from the cast and director. The stage set was a wonder, and Davy and Kristin McGuire did a fantastic job converting their cut paper set designs into a full scale stage backdrop.
Projections were played onto the white set to add detail to the various scenes and give a real sense that the castle was alive and moving. It was really interesting to see the actors interact with the castle set and the projections, and I enjoyed experiencing the different media forms together. The music by Fyfe Dangerfield
of The Guillemots really added to the action too. The stage set and projections definitely stole the show for me, and while at times the play strayed wildly from the original story overall it was a fun performance.
My visit to London also gave me a chance to browse the post-Christmas sales, and
Paperchase was my first stop. I bought many different items that I have been coveting for a while, and when I got home I calculated that I saved 60% across my total shop, yey! My favourite buys were from the Patisserie Pals range. I managed to get a super cute mini purse, biscuit tin, shopping list notepad and various other kawaii bits and pieces.
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| Lovely things I bought from the Patisserie Pals range |
I also bought some lovely items from the Tokyo Trippers and JPop range which I hope will be useful for my planned trip to Japan next year. The bag is huge and has many handy internal pockets so I can't wait to start using it.
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| Purchases from the JPop range |
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| Awesome Tokyo Trippers bag |
I also made a visit to the
Japan Centre just off Piccadilly Circus were I picked up some sweet Japanese snacks and some character bread. I recently visited China for work, and I discovered yummy bread bears with sweet red bean paste filling. I've wanted to introduce these to my friends since, so when I spotted some character bread it was a must. The Anpanman bun had a red bean paste filling, the Rilakkuma bun had a choccie custard filling and the Totoro bun had custard filling. Our verdict was that they were all yummy, and a lovely happy treat.
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| Yummy character bread from the Japan Centre |
