★★★★★
Life of Pi began as a book by Yann Martel in 2001. It was first made into a play near my hometown, at Bradford’s Alhambra Theatre, in 2003. It has enjoyed major success as a film with CGI animals in 2012 – and now as puppets in Lolita Chakrabarti’s new stage adaptation, directed by Max Webster, made in collaboration with Sheffield Theatres, Tulchin/Bartner Productions, Playing Field, and Simon Friend Entertainment. The production launched at Crucible all the way back in 2019 and has since played the West End and Broadway. It is now wrapping up its 34-city UK tour at the Lowry, Salford, which it played over the holiday season.
Pi, played by Divesh Subaskaran, was sublime. The youth and curiosity, and a sardonic quality to the humour, was extremely well-played in his body and language. The scene in the market, beautifully decorated with hanging gajras (reams of flowers) was so evocative, it made me cry a little as it reminded me of Pakistani markets.
The scene plays out Pi’s interest in Christianity, Islam and Hinduism as each person of faith asks Pi to come along a different time on a Friday to take part in worship, surprising his parents and sister. Yann Martel’s novel is described as a philosophical book, of a young person undertaking a journey in discovering God through multiple faiths and understanding faith through their interpretation of God.
The animals in this philosophical tale on stage: highly dramatic, extremely animalistic, and so beautiful. The first animals we see are butterflies attached to a long road and fluttering, two held in each puppeteers’ hands. We see a zebra, a hyena, a goat run through a kind of montage of Pi’s botanical life, yelping and butting heads and being tamed. The puppets are an extremely masterful and brilliant part of the play.
A key part of Pi’s story is his journey to Canada, the capsizing of the ship, and his journey of survival with the animals onshore. We see beaufil moments of reflection, of despair as Pi laments, “Why is this happening?”, of Richard Parker the Bengal Tiger-y Tiger, suddenly sit up, and respond to Pi in a French accent about their favourite meals. The hallucinatory effect of Pi’s survival is relayed emphatically to the audience, and to Mrs Okamoto, who is in charge of returning to her ship company with an account of why the ship sank.
What Pi describes as a story with animals becomes a story with humans, and the exposition at the end of the play made me feel a little underwhelmed. At the same time, the brutality made me understand why Pi narrated the way he did: to soften the reality and to help him understand it.
The acting was excellent, including a memorable performance from well-known actor Goldy Notay as Mamma. There were a few excellent covers: Chand Martinez plays Baba, Vinesh Veersami played Mamaji/Admiral, Akash Heer played Pandit-ji, and Tom Stacy played the Russian Sailor.
I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed and was moved by this adaptation of Life of Pi. The music (Andrew T. Mackay), the lighting (Tim Lutkin), the video design (Andrzej Goulding), the puppetry (Finn Caldwell and Nick Barnes), and the actors, especially those who took on multiple roles (which gave even more depth to the idea of narrative in the play), were astounding, moving, absorbing to watch.
Life of Pi runs at the Lowry (Lyric Theatre) until July 6 – the final stop of the UK tour.
Photo: Johan Persson
JADAR 