Written by Yann Martel, adapted for the stage by Lolita Chakrabarti and directed by Max Webster, Life of Pi is truly mesmerising .
We first meet Piscine (Pi for short) played by Divesh Subaskaran in a sparse hospital room in Mexico. He is being interviewed by officials from the Japanese Ministry of Transport, under his bed at first until they coax him to come out. They are trying to find out what happened to him during his 227 days at sea. He is clearly distressed.
Pi starts to tell his story. He is the son of a zoo manager in Pondicherry, India. He was raised as a Hindu and becomes interested in Christianity and Islam and decides to follow all three. The silhouettes played by the characters bestowing the benefits of each religion was really effective in this scene, and you start to get a sense of what this storytelling is capable of.
As Pi’s story unfolds, the scenery changes into the zoo with the wonderful animals deftly worked by the puppeteers and the light just draws you into the action and makes you feel like you are experiencing the story alongside Pi. One of the animals, a tiger named Richard Parker, becomes really significant in the tale.
Pi’s dad sells the zoo and the family set sail on the Tsimtsum, a ship that also has the animals from the zoo on board loaded in large crates. Not long after they have left, the ship sinks, leaving Pi on a lifeboat, but he is not alone. There’s a hyena and a zebra on board, and an orangutan.
Richard Parker is also on board. Eventually, it is just Pi and the Tiger, and Pi realises he will have to assert his authority over the animal if he is to survive.
Set changes are seamless throughout – from the zoo, to the market, and back to the zoo before embarking on the ship and out in the ocean on the lifeboat. Even the segue from the ocean back to Pi’s hospital bed was sheer perfection.
The visuals used during the storytelling were absolutely stunning and Subaskaran was so agile and light on his feet. I couldn’t take my eyes off the scenes out on the pacific ocean, every little detail – the fishes, the water effect, the turtle, even the way Richard Parker drank the sea water – was just a wonder to watch.
The officials aren’t convinced by Pi’s story, and so he gives another version – one that involves his mother, the cook and a sailor. After much consideration, the officials decide to take Pi’s first version of events.
★★★★★
Life of Pi is at Curve until Sunday, March 17. Limited tickets available
Tickets £10-£62.50
ACCESS PERFORMANCES
Captioned: Sat 16 Mar 2024, 2.15pm
Captioner: Theatre Captioner Network – Jenny Skene
