Playing Takao in the Stage Version of Makoto Shinkai's The Garden of Words

The stage version of Makoto Shinkai's film The Garden of Words is running in London until September 9, at the Park Theatre in Finsbury Park. Shinkai's film follows a schoolboy, Takao, who encounters a mysterious woman in a rainy Tokyo park. The play is based on the film, but it also uses elements from Shinkai's book version, which adds much more to the characters' backgrounds, especially Takao's family.

We interviewed two actors starring as Takao in separate stage play versions. One is Hiroki Berrecloth, a Japanese/British actor in the London production. He will soon be seen in the upcoming film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, playing the character Treech.

The other is Kurumu Okamiya, who is visiting from Japan. He's not in the London production, but he was cast in the upcoming Tokyo run of the play that will begin in November. Okamiya is an experienced stage actor, previously starring as Eren in a musical version of Attack on Titan, which ran in Tokyo and Osaka in January. He also played Yuri Briar in SPY x FAMILY and Eiji Okumura in Banana Fish, both on stage.

Had you seen The Garden of Words film before you were given the role, or were you coming to the story fresh?

Hiroki BERRECLOTH: I hadn't heard of the film when I initially auditioned for the cast three years ago before the pandemic postponed the show. And I was luckily cast at that moment, and I watched the film during the research and development we did, and I loved it. Since then, I've seen it several times, just referring back, keeping it fresh. And then, I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity again after another audition process after the pandemic.

In the film version, we mostly see Takao's relationship with Yukino. Can you say a little about Takao's other relationships—for example, with his mother as it appears in the play?

BERRECLOTH: I think the book goes into far more detail on the relationships between all the different characters. What becomes very clear as you read the novel, and where I personally drew a lot of inspiration, is that Takao is totally alienated. He feels he's not seen by anyone he should have closer relationships with. His mother is consistently absent; it's similar with his older brother. This highlights his relationship with Yukino even further, in the sense that she's the first character Takao has come across who genuinely sees and hears him. That leads to confusion about his feelings for her.

Some people may think of Takao as a strange boy obsessed with shoes. Does he reminds you of any people from when you were a student, or even of yourself as a teenager?

Kurumu OKAMIYA: I thought there wasn't any person like Takao when I was a student. My first encounter with the film was when I was 18. The impression I had of Takao then differed from what I think of him now. When I was 18, I thought the Takao in the film was quite a mature boy, but now I think of him as having a very young energy. He has a difficult and complicated relationship with his family, but still, he's very pure, pursuing his dream, and has energy and passion. I really like that about him.

BERRECLOTH: Personally, I think there were people I grew up with who had that uniqueness, which I liked. I think I have that as well. I connected to Takao very early on; I decided that I wanted to be an actor. And I was quite dedicated to that, similar to how Takao decided very early on that he wanted to be a shoemaker. I found a comparison there. Similarly, at my school drama acting theatre, there was something repressed. We had a very toxic teacher… Working in an environment where you're constantly met with homophobic abuse was not ideal. So it felt like I was going against the grain in that sense.

The people I end up gravitating towards in friendships and relationships have that uniqueness, that decision to have an ambition, a goal, a trait that motivates them. I find it very difficult to have conversations with people who don't have that grander motivation.

How would you describe Takao's feelings towards Yukino? For example, are they like the feelings that a boy might feel towards a beautiful girl his own age, or are they different from that?

OKAMIYA: In Japan, in high school, first-year students tend to have some admiration for third-year students. The feelings Takao has for Yukino are different from those he would have had for someone of the same generation. For him, the mature older woman seems fascinating and mysterious. It looks like she knows the world, which he doesn't know. I would like to hear Hiroki's answer, too.

BERRECLOTH: I would say the age gap between different year groups at school is not so significant. Many friendships happen across age groups in the UK, from my experience, especially once you get to high school and university, because everyone arrives at university at different ages.

But for me, Takao's relationship with Yukino—returning to what I said earlier, Takao feels like he is invisible to so many people, his mother, brother, teachers. So I think it's not love or affection with Yukino in terms of romantic interest. It's actually a confusion between love and being seen for the first time. So he has this new experience of being seen and understood by somebody and confusing that with, "Oh, this must be love," because it feels so unique.

I think he's very unsure, and throughout the play, he's figuring out what love is, what it isn't, and what form of love it is. So it's not straightforward as if he's fancying a teacher or an older woman—it's much more complex than that.

Are you referencing Takao voice actor's performance in the film version for your performance?

BERRECLOTH: Personally, no - I think the medium is just so different. In the anime, there are a lot of close-ups and eye acting. Meanwhile, we're trying to fill a theatre. In terms of voice quality and intentions, I discovered most of them in [Shinaki's] book. I found that I wanted to erase the memory of the film very quickly to allow the freedom to explore myself and discover things while leaning heavily on the intentions I discovered in the text.

OKAMIYA: I really admire Shinkai's work. I am not saying I won't refer to it at all. But it's applied to my process because I've been in many stage adaptations of anime and manga. So I always want to put my personality into a character. I also love collaborating with the other actors on stage, so they will influence me and then complete the unique version [of the character] on the stage. This is what I want to do.

The play can move very quickly between different times and places. Did you find it challenging as an actor?

BERRECLOTH: I personally think I've got it easier than some of the other actors. Because I play Takao, it means that I can't be as big a part of all the “chorus” moments in the play. A lot of the other actors are doing an incredible job, doing transitions, coming on for “movement” bits. In contrast, I have the luxury of staying in character pretty much for the entire show.

The novel jumps around time quite a lot, but once it was translated and adapted into a chronological script by Alexandra Rutter and Susan Momoko Hingley, it just made sense to me. I didn't struggle too much, or not to the extent that the other actors did, who have done an incredible job of figuring it out. But in terms of the language of our movement between scenes, we worked on making sure those transitions were slick… We're trying to achieve a fluidity between scenes, so it doesn't ever feel like there's ever a break where the energy in the theater is being dropped.

In the play, Takao has grown up in Tokyo; have you experienced living in Tokyo yourself?

OKAMIYA: I'm not from Tokyo, but Nagano and I wasn't in Tokyo at Takao's age. I came to Tokyo when I was in university, away from my family. I was really frightened, frightened to get on the subway. I was alone and locked myself up in a room for three days. Of course, I can go anywhere now; I know Tokyo very well. I'm now brave enough to wish to go abroad as well.

BERRECLOTH: My experience with Tokyo is mainly as a tourist, but my grandparents live just outside in Tokorazawa. It's only about half an hour on a train to central Tokyo. We'd take day trips, and we hang out. More recently, last winter, I went by myself, and I now have friends who live in Tokyo, so we went out with them. But I wouldn't say I know the city very well. I can just get around by using Google Maps.