Sophie is an 18-year-old girl who toils in the hat shop opened years ago by her late father. One day she finds she has unexpectedly angered the evil Witch of the Waste and finds herself trapped within a spell that turns the young Sophie into an old woman.
Sophie takes shelter in the home of Howl, a strange but flamboyant wizard whose magical castle can move between various lands and dimensions powered by Calcifer, a fire demon. She embarks on a journey to break her own spell and the one binding Howl and Calcifer together only to discover that there is a lot more to heartless Howl than meets the eye.
Howl’s Moving Castle ran from the 28th November 2011 until the 7th January 2012 to sold out audiences and four star reviews. The play was Time Out’s Critic’s Choice for Christmas that year and received four stars from The Times, Metro and The Public Reviews.
Adapted from the novel by Diana Wynne Jones by Mike Sizemore.
Scored by Fyfe Dangerfield of The Guillemots and narrated by Stephen Fry. Directed and designed by Davy & Kristin McGuire with art concepts by Dave Kennedy. Lighting designed by Tim Bray. Associate direction by Jack Lowe and executively produced by Katherine Jewkes.
The cast:
Daniel Ings as Howl
Susan Sheridan as Sophie
Kristin McGuire as The Witch
James Wilkes as Calcifer
Stephen Fry as The Narrator and The Moving Castle