Play by Lolita Chakrabarti from the Novel by Yann Martel

Directed by Max Webster

Puppetry and Movement Direction by Finn Caldwell

Review by Annie Aslett

Tickets from £13.00

Yann Martel’s Life of Pi – first published in 2001, transformed for the big screen in 2012, adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti for the West End in 2019, and transferred to Broadway in 2023 – is currently voyaging across the UK until July 2024. Martel’s fantasy story about a young boy’s miraculous journey has been shared the world over – and it has never been more breathtaking than live on stage, brought to life by Finn Caldwell and Nick Barnes’ awe-inspiring puppetry.

We meet Pi Patel (Divesh Subaskaran) washed up in Mexico, after 227 days trapped on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger – the result of the sinking of the Tsimtsum, on which he and his family were emigrating. Recuperating in the hospital, Pi recounts his adventures to Mrs Okamoto (Lilian Tsang) and Mrs Chen (Bhawna Bhawsar). We learn that the Patels and the creatures from their family zoo were leaving India to find a better life in Canada when disaster strikes – and Pi must survive by any means necessary, stranded as he is on a tiny lifeboat with Richard Parker (an enormous tiger). What follows is a poignant, funny and allegorically heavy tale designed to make you think about the power of stories, spirituality, and survival instincts.

The beating heart of the show is Subaskaran as Pi – what a debut from this actor, who heaps charm and humour into the script, immediately making the audience root for this big-thinking young boy. Pi attends mosque, church and temple, seeing each religion’s story as allegories for the same divinity he sees all around him. Subaskaran nails the balance of Pi’s youthful naivety with the enviable hopefulness and self-assuredness that is so often lost with age. The journey that Pi and Richard Parker go on together is anchored by Subaskaran’s convincing portrayal of Pi’s conflicting emotions and adaptation to his circumstances – the two go from mortal enemies (RIP Buckingham the goat), to predator and prey, to reluctant partners, until they finally wash up on shore and part ways.

Accompanying the human cast on stage throughout are puppets co-designed and created by Finn Caldwell and Nick Barnes – sculpted from plastazote (a light-weight foam), these remarkable creations are designed to look like driftwood; at once incredibly life-like and convincing in their mannerisms, but with an ethereal quality that marks them out as figments of Pi’s imagination as he tells his story: these puppets are inhabited by cast members; some wearing the puppets on backpack-like contraptions; others manipulating jaws and tails while mimicking the animalistic noises of their creatures, bringing genuine emotion to the cries and growls of these beasts. These often haunting sounds are made all the more poignant and disturbing when you consider their symbolic nature.

Choreographed by Caldwell, the talent of these performers is breathtaking; the design and streamlined mechanics of the puppets make it easy to forget that there are people under there at all. However, if you focus on the movements of the individuals, it is mind-bending to imagine the amount of work that has gone into this performance – sometimes 6-7 performers will be inside the lifeboat at any one time, all working in tandem to create a realistic scene while somehow not getting tangled up and falling over one another, all while cramped under and around these pieces of living art. The budget for chiropractors and masseuses must be eye-watering. The realistic movements of the actors and puppets, combined with Tim Hatley’s set and costume design, video design by Andrzej Goulding, lighting by Tim Lutkin and Tim Deiling and sound by Carolyn Downing, make each location and scene authentic and evocative, allowing the audience to forget where they are and be drawn into Pi’s world.

At its core, Life of Pi’s message is that, as humans, we choose our own stories; the obstacles we face can be viewed through different lenses, and interpreted in whichever way we decide. Mrs Okamoto and Mrs Chen take the symbolic place of the audience on stage, as we/they must listen to Pi’s account and draw our conclusions about what truly happened. Tsang and Bhawsar are excellent in representing the warring sides of the human condition – one with a need to understand and explain, the other filled with compassion and empathy for Pi’s emotional turmoil. The twist in the last ten minutes will have you deliberating as you leave the theatre and questioning what it is to believe. The Winner of 5 Olivier Awards and 3 Tony Awards, among other accolades, Life of Pi is a privilege to watch and not to be missed.

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