The title character’s real first name is Piscine, which means swimming pool in French. An ironic name for a person stranded in the largest pool of water imaginable, the Pacific Ocean.
Stranded on a tiny lifeboat going mad for over 200 days, adrift in the sea, Pi starts off accompanied by three others: an injured sailor, the cargo ship’s chef and her mother. But by the time she arrives at land she is the only survivor. Animals from her father’s zoo aboard the ship are used as metaphors to represent the people aboard the lifeboat, and offer comfort to the girl, as her tale without them is much darker to hear.
This new production of Yann Martel’s novel is currently playing at The Lowry and touring nationally. Using live action and puppetry, director Max Webster brings to life the saga of one young girl’s survival at sea. The play was written by Lolita Chakrabarti who won a prestigious Olivier award for her efforts, and it isn’t hard to see why, there is non-stop emotion and action throughout, whisking you away from your cushy seat into the heart of Asia, amongst the crashing waves and roaring beasts.
The animal puppetry was masterful, directed by Finn Caldwell the lifelike movements and behaviours of the animals on stage are something to be marvelled at, catapulting the audience into The Life Of Pi.
Beginning in a hospital, the first sight of Pi, played in this instance by Adwitha Arumugam, is from her outstretched arm appearing sharply from under her bed upon the offer of food. This drew a great laugh from the audience who, like me, were eagerly awaiting our star’s entry to the performance.
The hospital bed remains a constant, forming the back of the lifeboat, and acting as a reminder that Pi isn’t at all over her experience at this point. We are also plunged in and out of the sea faring tale to return abruptly to the room upon questioning from Mrs. Okamoto, the no-nonsense Japanese bureaucrat, whose sole intention is to find out the facts of the ship’s sinking and piece together Pi’s story.
The movement of the ship across the ocean, along with context of Pi’s journey is done via a projection onto the back screen of the set. The Indiana-Jones style tracking of the ship’s journey adds a depth that allows the story to progress forward, informing the audience of the passage of time, without dragging on, keeping the action flowing.
There are many religious themes throughout the story, with Pi constantly questioning faith, and wanting to be involved in multiple religions at once, claiming all of their theories on death are just “versions of the same story”.
The ending of the play is joyous, with the aforementioned Mrs. Okamoto being asked by Pi, upon the revelation that the animals onboard the lifeboat were never really there, which story she found most “enjoyable”. At first the bureaucrat rejects this, saying that it doesn’t matter which was more enjoyable, but rather what the black and white facts of the matter were.
This is followed by the ending, another back projection, showing her report being typed up on a typewriter with the woman narrating. She states that Pi was aboard with the animals, which hit hard, proving that sometimes the an enjoyable lie is better than a gruesome truth.
A masterpiece that would evoke emotion from even a Bengal tiger, The Life of Pi was truly a joy to watch. Whilst I may have tried here, no amount of words can do it justice. Watch it for yourself – I implore you!
Showings are on at The Lowry theatre until the 7th of January and tickets are available from £16!
Featured image credit: the Lowry press office, photographer Johan Persson
One Comment