Review: Life of Pi at the Wyndham’s Theatre, London
Even if you’ve never read Yann Martel’s 2001 Man Booker Prize-winning Life of Pi or seen the 2012 film by the same name, chances are you at least peripherally know of it as “the one with the tiger.”
How do you translate something like this to the stage? A film is one thing, but live theatre does not benefit from CGI and special effects. But with an ambitious creative team including playwright Lolita Chakrabarti (Red Velvet, Hymn) and director Max Webster (Henry V, As You Like It, To Kill a Movkingbird and many others), I had a feeling we were about to see something wonderful and unexpected.
What’s it about?
16-year-old Piscine “Pi” Patel is being treated in a hospital in Mexico, where he is visited by a Japanese Ministry of Transport official and a representative from the Canadian embassy who are investigating an incident at sea.
Eight months earlier, Pi, his family, and their zoo full of animals were travelling on a cargo ship from India to start a new life in Canada. The ship sank and Pi appears to be the only survivor. Pi tells the officials an incredible story of how he survived at sea for 227 days in a small lifeboat with an unlikely companion: a fully grown male Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.
Any content notes?
This section may contain some minor spoilers, Those who have seen the film will already know the main “twist” at the end of Life of Pi. If you haven’t, I will not reveal it in this review so you can read on safely.
Life of Pi contains quite a few violent and potentially upsetting moments including:
A man kills two other people, a man and a woman
A man’s injured leg is cut off
A brief reference to cannibalism
A goat is fed to a tiger
A tiger kills and eats several other animals
A committed vegetarian is forced to kill and eat fish and other marine animals in order to survive, which he finds deeply upsetting
The violence is stylised rather than graphic. Blood is represented by long strings of red cloth and red light. Even so, this is an emotionally intense and at times challenging story. Trauma, grief, and the death of family members are also major themes.
The age recommendation is given as “Parental Guidance” and anyone over the age of 3 is permitted. While children will enjoy the visual spectacle and the animal puppets, they may struggle to follow the story and be upset by some of the more violent aspects. I’d suggest mid-teens and above for this one.
Life of Pi: My Review
There is only one way I can begin this review: Life of Pi is the most visually beautiful piece of theatre I have ever seen.
The puppetry, designed by Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell and directed by the latter, is simply phenomenal. If you have seen the iconic War Horse, you may recognise Caldwell’s distinctive style. Several of the puppeteers have also worked on War Horse in the past.
Richard Parker the tiger (named due to a clerical error that accidentally gave him the name of the hunter) is, of course, the star of the show - so much so that the seven actors who operate the puppet (three at a time) collectively took the 2022 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor. It is a testament to these performers’ talent and the seamless togetherness of their movement that after a while, you stop seeing them as three humans operating a puppet. All you see is a tiger.
Nuwan Hugh Perera as Pi and Owain Gwynn (head) and others as Richard Parker. Photo: Ellie Kurttz
From the first moment that Richard Parker stalks onto the stage, this magestic creature is alive in every sense. From turns of the head to the slightest flicks of the tail, the mannerisms of a big cat are so beautifully observed and replicated that it will take your breath away. There is nothing cute and cuddly about Richard Parker, and we do not need Pi’s Father’s impassioned speech about the dangers of wild animals to feel awed, humbled, and a little bit terrified.
Animals are everywhere in this story. From Orange Juice the Orangutan and the wounded zebra to the giraffes in the zoo to the butterflies, birds, and shoals of fish Pi encounters on his travels, all are brought to vibrant and utterly believable life through the models and the movement.
This show’s stunning design doesn’t stop at the puppetry, though. The set design is fluid and meticulous, with Pi’s boat rising up seemingly from nowhere and rolling on a swirling, treacherous ocean brought to life on the stage floor by Tim Lutkin’s lighting design and Andrzej Goulding’s video and projection design.
Nuwan Hugh Perera as Pi. Photo: Ellie Kurttz
Set, lighting, and sound work in gorgeous harmony throughout, taking us from a stark white hospital room to the colours, textures and sounds of an Indian market to a brilliant starry night in the middle of the ocean. I gasped aloud in several places, including the moment that Pi disappeared under the water through a concealed hole in the stage.
Nuwan Hugh Perera plays Pi, our young hero. On stage almost constantly, Perera commits to this physically and emotionally challenging role with skill and sensitivity. His portrayal of Pi sparkles with intelligence and plenty of wit, bringing to life a boy who is in many ways still a child but also wise beyond his years. Other particularly strong performances included Phyllis Ho as Lulu Chen and recent graduate Tanvi Virmani as Pi’s sister Rani.
The cast of Life of Pi. Photo: Ellie Kurttz
If anything, the actors and script are occasionally overshadowed by the sheer visual spectacle. The nature of a two-and-a-half-hour play as opposed to a 300 page novel means that we do lose some of Pi’s interior life that makes the novel so powerful.
Life of Pi is, at its heart, a philosophical rumination on issues such as religion and spirituality, the nature of reality, and the human capacity for adaptation and survival. More than anything, though, it’s a story about the power of stories and how they get told. At the start of the play, Pi informs the officials that he is going to tell them a story that “will make you believe in God.” I’m not sure about God, but Life of Pi might just make you believe in magic.
Where to get tickets
Life of Pi will run at the Wyndham’s Theatre until 15 January 2023. Tickets are available from the official website or reputable London theatre vendors. The show will embark on a UK and Ireland tour beginning in September 2023. Tickets are available from the individual venues. It will also open on Broadway from March 2023.