Writer: Yann Martel
Adaptor: Lolita Chakrabarti
Director: Max Webster
It is rare to find a production when everything comes together perfectly to create some moments of exquisite 
theatre. Life of Pi provides just such a production.
Pi Patel and his family live in Pondicherry where they run a zoo. They are desperate to emigrate to Canada – and when finally their documents are approved, they set off across the Pacific on an old cargo ship accompanied by a menagerie of their animals. When they hit a storm the ship starts to sink, the animals escape from their crates and Pi finds himself adrift in a lifeboat, apparently the only survivor from the wreck. So begins an epic journey, as he battles to survive against the element accompanied on his small boat by a zebra, an orang-utan, a hyena and a fully grown Bengal tiger. It sounds like an incredible story – will anyone believe it?
This entire production is a work of wonder where everything just gels together to create something special. One moment we’re in a stark hospital room, and within seconds it’s transformed into a zoo, or a colourful, bustling marketplace, or the deck of a ship, all before our eyes – and it’s all done by hand. Such is the skill of Tim Hatley’s set design that it has the flexibility to make these transformations – but it wouldn’t work on its own. This is very much a technical team effort, where Andrzej Goulding’s video and Tim Lutkin’s and Tim Deiling’s lighting all play an integral part in making the different settings so accurate and believable. That’s all before we get to the lifeboat adrift in the ocean, when the lighting design really comes into its own, creating waves and ripples on the stage that seem so inviting you can almost feel the waves lapping against the boat.
Leading a strong cast is Divesh Subaskaran, making his professional debut in the role of Pi. Subaskaran approaches Pi’s different states of mind and delivery excellently – sometimes clearly traumatised, at other times deadpan and matter-of-fact when being asked about his journey, with panic and determination when faced with the challenges of the voyage. Subaskaran has a wonderfully deft agility too – squatting, perching, jumping as he moves around his small floating home without falling foul of his travelling companions.
The real stars of the show, though, are not the human characters but the puppets and their operators. Designed by Nick Barnes, these puppets are a true work of wonder. They look sufficiently like the animal they represent to be believable but also allow the puppeteers to provide the accurate movement that is needed to create a realistic animal – and the movements they create are spot on. The tilt of the head, the flick of the tail, the threatening growl, all work together. Before very long, you easily look straight through the operators and see just the animal, creating its own character on the stage. The tiger is worked by a team of three, drawn from a pool of different puppeteers in the cast and it’s good to see them given their own proper curtain call too. Top credit to puppetry director Finn Caldwell who must have spent many hours with the cast alongside director Max Webster to perfect this work.
Lolita Chakrabarti’s adaptation of Yann Martel’s book has created not only a wonderful piece of storytelling with amazing effects and stunning puppetry, but something that makes you reflect on our place in the world, and where we sit alongside the other creatures we share our planet with.
It’s an unmissable piece of theatre. Catch it while it’s on tour.
Runs until 6 April 2024 and on tour
The Reviews Hub Score
A work of wonder
