• Life of Pi

10/22/22 (Sat), London

A 2019 dramatization by Lolita Chakrabarti of Yann Martel’s best-seller about a boy who survives a shipwreck in the Pacific Ocean that kills his family, the entire crew and its cargo of zoo animals only to find himself on a rickety lifeboat with four zoo-mates, including, most frighteningly, a hungry Bengal tiger. A stage version seemed an audacious move given the sweep of the novel (from a small Indian village to a large ship to months on the open waters) as well as the presence of animals, inevitably meaning puppets of some kind. But I was ready for anything.

The show opens in a Canadian hospital where the rescued boy, an Indian teenager nicknamed Pi, is being interviewed by a Japanese insurer looking to determine the cause of the tragedy. As the boy tells his story, the incidents are reenacted before us. He reveals that his family of zookeepers had to leave India due to political unrest and took their collection of animals onto a cargo ship. A violent storm causes the ship to sink, and the boy takes refuge in a lifeboat – but finds himself sharing the space with a hyena, zebra, orangutan and tiger. The tiger makes quick work of the other animals and turns its eyes toward Pi. The boy then relates to the skeptical insurer how he kept the animal at bay and survived over 200 days at sea. It is only toward the end of the show that we learn the true meaning of the narrative.

The production proved visually spectacular. Max Webster’s staging is fluid, shifting seamlessly from land to sea to zoo to hospital with the rapid movement of partitions, props, a multi-story framework in back for the ship, and a lifeboat that ascended mid-stage when needed. The storm in particular is thrillingly portrayed, aided by tremendous sound (Carolyn Downing), light (Tim Lutkin) and projection (Andrzej Goulding) effects.

The mechanics, though, are less impressive than the human effects. The use of “invisible” stagehands waving poles for fish, butterflies, birds, stars and such, though familiar fare by now, is handled adeptly. The main attraction is the puppeteers, who, under Finn Caldwell’s superb direction, ingeniously bring the huge animals to life with up to six operators per creature handled with meticulously synchronized action. The puppets – goat, hyena, zebra, orangutan, tiger – are rendered in interlocking pieces that give the impression of natural movement; we can virtually feel the animals breathing. The design is closer to War Horse than Lion King; the latter celebrates (brilliantly) its artifice, while Pi wants us to believe in the animals. There are some shocking scenes in which animals attack and tear each other apart in a brutally realistic manner, while on the other hand the tiger appears in a hilarious fantasy sequence in which he talks and takes tea. We even get a scene of the tiger pooping, which isn’t half as bad as when the boy tries eating the results. The inventive staging, the set, the puppets and live actors all work together in perfect harmony. Production-wise, the show couldn’t have been better. It reminds me of why I go to the theater.

The book by Chakrabarti (author of the wonderful Red Velvet) was less accomplished. The philosophizing on God and the nature of faith could get heavy handed in the lumbering script, and the manner in which the characters ultimately figured out the significance of Pi’s story was clumsily rendered. The talk of God vs. Allah vs. Hindu gods came off as New Age babble. The narrative itself, especially the scenes featuring Pi’s family, was well handled, but the interview that framed the show and the religious elements were poorly conceived. The show is in serious need of a dramaturge.

One big irritant was Mr. Okamoto, the insurance man from Tokyo. He is a total cliché as presented here, including a dumb reference to bonsai that sent my eyes rolling – is this really how they believe Japanese insurers speak? That needs to be excised for future productions, not least if they want a Japanese staging. I can’t believe reviewers didn’t mention it. It didn’t help that the actor portraying him was embarrassingly amateurish (and why the American accent for a Japanese character?).

On the plus side, Nuwan Hugh Perera was terrific as Pi in a dynamic and athletic turn that was utterly convincing. While he’s a bit old to be playing a teenager (couldn’t they have figured out a way, say, to have him reflecting on the story years later?), his energy was winning. His parents and sister were also excellent in a generally strong cast.

For all that, the proceedings were inevitably dominated by the dazzling staging, which made it all worth it. Some of the vicious killing by the animals, presented in bone-crunching detail, may put off parents of young children even in puppet form, but overall this is a perfect introduction to the possibilities of live theater. I look forward to seeing it again sometime.