The Life of Pi is a stunning production that expertly brings together original composition, clever staging and set design with phenomenal puppetry, movement and lighting design to create a truly unique adaptation of Yann Martel’s award winning book. Its talented cast display humour, heartbreak, and theatricality and Nuwan Hugh Perera leads the cast fantastically, portraying the eponymous Pi with great emotion and storytelling.
The Life of Pi at Wyndham’s Theatre has already had an astounding first run; winning 5 Olivier Awards including for Best New Play and uniquely receiving Best Actor in a Supporting Role collectively for the seven performers who play the life-size Royal Bengal Tiger, Richard Parker. Its ability to create and perform a groundbreaking piece of theatre has not diminished and Nuwan Hugh Perera creates a mesmerising portrayal of Pi, taking over in the principal role following his time as alternate Pi.
The first and second acts of this show are both equally incredible if different in tone. The first depicts the bright, beautiful colours of Pi and his family’s zoo in India and seamlessly transforms into both a bustling market place and the cargo ship upon which a ferocious maelstrom causes Pi to fight for his survival on a desolate lifeboat. The lighting design by Tim Lutkin creates a realistic tempest on a wooden stage, whilst Tim Hatley utilises perspective and excellent audience sightlines to create a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean. Hatley’s set and the direction of this production, by Max Webster, established animal enclosures, multi-tiered streets, and floating vessels all in the same space and effortlessly transitioned between each scene whilst maintaining the audience’s attention and ensuring they remain immersed within the world this team have created.
Lolita Chakrabarti has created a stunning adaptation of Yann Martel’s award winning book and the puppet designers and movement directors, Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell, have created an engaging, incredibly clever way to immerse the audience into the story and depict each animal with spectacular realism. At some point you forget that there isn’t a real orangutan, zebra or tiger on stage at the Wyndham. Puppeteers Owain Gwynn, Rebecca Killick, Elan James, Daisy Franks, Romina Hytten, Tom Larkin, and Tom Stacy bring these creatures to life with poise and elegance.
Davina Moon, Ameet Chana and Tanvi Virmani portray Pi’s family and build humourous and heartwarming relationships, leading to heartbreak in later scenes. Each performer firmly establishes their own personality and voice and come together to form a family. This natural and relatable family dynamic further heightens the audience’s distress when Pi finds himself alone at sea.
Whilst I wasn’t totally engaged with all the scenes taking place in Pi’s hospital room after the event, the contrast in pace and style of storytelling is enjoyable and Phyllis Ho and Kevin Shen brought both comedy and intensity to their roles as bureaucratic officials. This production manages to manipulate time and move between present day, and the events of the previous days when Pi was at sea, excellently which helps to convey the post traumatic stress and confusion Pi still has to contend with.
The entire ensemble of performers uses movement and puppetry to create Pi’s world and are supported by the stunning visual effects, video design, sound design and compositions that accompanied each scene. The ability to so thoroughly engage an audience and create such an in depth, beautiful depiction of India and the ocean is astonishing.
The shining star of this production and the absolute highlight of the evening is Nuwan Hugh Perera whose heartbreaking and emotional performance as Pi is one of the best portrayal’s of a character I have seen. He allows his youth and naivety to show whilst also demonstrating the journey he has to undertake to survive and the challenges and ultimately devastating events he has to tackle. A nuanced and phenomenal performance.
Kazeem Tosin Amore gives an intense performance as the chef, exactly what the character requires and is hilarious as the voice of Richard Parker, complementing the puppeteers choreography and movement. Life of Pi allows all characters to return throughout the course of the show as hallucinations or figments of Pi’s imagination which further exemplifies this productions ability to portray contrasts in tenses and question reality.
The first act is mesmerising; one of the most beautiful and inventive displays of staging, set design, lighting design and puppetry, whilst the second utilises all of these to create a truly heartbreaking and devastating act. Whilst you may not leave feeling upbeat, you will leave with a renewed love for theatre and contemplating and questioning your own world views and beliefs.
Although there are of course moments of dialogue and staging that will continue to become more polished as the new cast keep performing, this production is a wonderful demonstration of all elements of theatre coming together to create an immersive, stunning, heartbreaking story that leaves you contemplating as you exit the theatre and is depicted by an exceptionally talented cast of performers. A unique adaptation of a thought provoking story playing with its new cast at Wyndham’s Theatre until the 15th January 2023.