Curve, Leicester
13th March, 2024
“What do you believe?”
Lolita Chakrabarti’s adaptation of Yann Martel’s
‘unadaptable’ novel Life of Pi was first seen at Sheffield Theatres in 2019. Telling
the story of Piscine ‘Pi’ Patel who survives a storm which capsizes the ship
that his family and their zoo were on, Pi’s resilience, his determination to
survive the most adverse conditions, and his extraordinary outlook on life has
made Martel’s novel a classic. Just as vivid is Max Webster’s
production which, after triumphant runs in the West End and on Broadway, is now
on tour. The staging has been very slightly simplified since we saw it at the
Wyndham’s Theatre to make the show easier to tour, but Life of Pi remains
a remarkable achievement in epic storytelling.
The story is framed by scenes in a hospital room in Mexico. Pi’s
lifeboat has washed up on the shore and he’s now struggling to piece together
the tragedy at the request of a shipping company official tasked with
filing a report. But his post-traumatic stress doesn’t take away his gentle humour
and thoughtful demeanour. Taking a sherbet lemon from his hiding spot under the
bed, his hand pops out the other side to offer it to one of his visitors. When
he does resurface, Pi (Divesh Subaskaran in an excellent professional debut) is
genial, innocent-minded and funny. Soon enough, the white washed walls of the
hospital open up to the vibrancy of his home in India. We meet a parade of animals
from giraffes, goats, meerkats and hyenas. We’re also introduced to Pi’s philosophical
outlook on religion. Frequenting the mosque, church and temple, he rejects his
family’s plea to choose just one religion to follow, likening it to being asked
to choose the better story. When his family’s zoo falls victim to the country’s
political instability, rioting on the streets forces the family to move to Canada.
What follows is a genius, uber-theatrical piece of
storytelling: from Webster's staging of the sinking ship to the following months Pi spends on a
lifeboat in middle of the Pacific Ocean with a tiger named Richard Parker. But
for all of its theatricality, Chakrabarti’s adaptation ensures the heart of Martel’s
novel is beating strong. It’s not only a great story that makes Life of Pi
such a popular novel, it’s also because Pi is a great protagonist and that
really shines here. The show’s utter brilliance comes from how it highlights
that theatre is a truly collaborative artform: from Tim Hatley’s set design to
Nick Barnes & Finn Caldwell’s driftwood-style puppets to Andrzej Goulding’s
video design to the multiple actors who play the tiger (an Olivier Award winning
part), all superbly helmed by Webster. The various design elements, movement and puppetry
come together to create a show which visually dazzles and serves the story’s
emotional and intellectual core.
Also clever is how, just like theatre, imagination and
reality sit side by side, the sterile walls of the hospital existing in the same
moment as the deep blue of the ocean. Quite quickly you get enraptured in the
storytelling: the terror of a screaming orangutan flailing its arms about; the humour of a disoriented Pi seeing an anthropomorphic Richard Parker enthusing
about his favourite foods; and the bobbing up and down of rain catchers on the
water. You find yourself literally moving in your seat with the sinking of the ship and the motion of the lifeboat.
At the end of the play, when we’re prompted to question the likeliness
of Pi’s story, and whether it was just a story, and we reflect on the power of storytelling
ourselves. Life of Pi is a classic of the novel adaptation genre, and a reminder of our human need for stories to survive.
Life of Pi plays at Curve, Leicester until 16th March as part of a UK & Ireland tour. For further information please visit https://lifeofpionstage.com/
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| Life of Pi. Credit: Johan Persson |
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