The show features intricate set designs combined with a masterful use of lifelike puppets, which has led to the venue’s first transformation in its entire history. Directed by Max Webster, the play centers around a sixteen-year-old boy who finds himself stranded on a lifeboat with a bunch of wild animals – all of them fighting for their own survival.
The adventure has begun. After much anticipation following its original Sheffield run, the stage adaptation of the whimisical well-known tale Life of Pi has finally made it to London. Featuring an impressive set design (with an incredibly use of lifelike puppets), this reflective insightful story has found its place at the heart of theatreland. But all dreamlike experiences also need some share of reality – especially when they’re brought into a live show. That’s why the historic Wyndham’s Theatre has undergone an unprecedented transformation to fully accommodate the mesmerising elements of the West End production, which we can now see for the first time.
Directed by Max Webster, the cast includes Hiran Abeysekera (reprising the title role), as well as Mina Anwar as Ma, Nicholas Khan as Father, Payal Mistry as Rani, Tom Espiner as Father Martin and Commmander Grant-Jones, Raj Ghatak as Mamaji and Pandit-Ji, Syreeta Kumar as Mrs Biology Kumar and Zaida Khan, David K.S. Tse as Mr Okamoto, Kirsten Foster as Lulu Chen, Habib Nasib Nader as Cook and Voice of Tiger, among others. On its side, the creative team is completed by Jack Bradley (dramaturgy), Tim Hatley (set and costume designs), Finn Caldwell (puppet and movement director), Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell (puppet designs) and Andrew T. Mackay (music composition), among some other members.
Based on of the most beloved works of fiction (selling over 15 million copies worldwide and a recipient of the Men Booker Prize), the plot centers around a sixteen-year-old boy confined to lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where the cargo ship he was travelling by has sunk. As he must get through this hardest of ordeals, he will have to share his only mean of endurance with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. As time runs out and nature unveils its fiercest face, a struggle for survival will be unleashed.
Life of Pi can be seen on Mondays and from Wednesdays to Saturdays at 7:30 pm, with matinees at 2:30 pm on Thursday and Saturday and at 3 pm on Sundays. Tickets are available on the following link.
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