Life of Pi at Festival Theatre Edinburgh Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Deborah
A story of courage, fear and the spirit to look deep inside oneself to conquer all odds!
If you only go to one theatre show in your life, chose Life of Pi; it is the most remarkable adaptation from a book I have seen. The use of puppets sounds and lighting has you in that boat with Pi.
I’m at a loss where to start; I have never seen a show that pulls at emotions so deeply as Life of Pi or the most realistic visual effects on stage. Lolita Chakrabarti who adapted the book by Martel adapted the unadaptable.
Life of Pi, a story of a young 17-year-old who through her early years is taunted by her name, Piscine Molitor Patel named in honour her father’s great friend Francis Abirubasamy a champion swimmer, as she got older, she shortened it to Pi.
Pi grew up in an idyllic India with her parents and brother running a zoo. But throughout Pi’s life she is taught the harsh realities of life, the pecking order in nature and her father demonstrated this early on by feeding the loved goat to the tiger. Pi questioned the meaning of life, brought up as a Hindu she loved the marketplace as it had three different type churches. She went to each one seeking a God, but constantly got told you must only believe in one, but she saw them more as complimentary to each other. But political unrest the zoo had hit hardships, in a last attempt to revive the zoo, they received a Bengal tiger whose paperwork said his name was ‘Richard Parker’. Sadly, even this did not change the situation, so her father made the decision to move to Canada to start afresh, taking with him a selection of the animals.
The cargo shipwrecked, but Pi managed to get into a lifeboat with an unusual group of occupants – Richard Parker (tiger), Black & White (Zebra), Orange Juice (Orangutan) and the Hyena.
This is where the story starts to unfold as Pi tells her story when in hospital to the Japanese investigator, Mrs Okamoto, who is wanting to know what happened to cause the ship to sink.
As mentioned earlier, the use of puppets which looked like they had been made up of flotsam were extremely lifelike, the actors who operated these puppets made them ‘talk’ through body language and movement. Having seen War Horse and how the horse manoeuvred on stage, Barnes and Finn created a huge range of different animal life; in the zoo were giraffes, zebras, goats, fish, butterflies and my favourite at the zoo was the orangutang Orange Juice and her baby.
Caldwell supervised the manipulation of these fantastic animals, Richard Parker had three parts, head, heart and hind. It was so well done that those who operated the animals vanished into the scenery and left you mesmerised with the strength and each of their animal instincts and natures mighty powers. Some of the scenes are not for the faint of heart!
Having expected Pi to be male, I was surprised and delighted when Pi turned out to be a girl. Sonya Venugopal was exceptional; as Pi, a seventeen-year-old who is defiant, smart and stubborn. Shared her adventure with raw emotion and explaining how she remembered many lessons from her parents and those who deeply influenced her, is how she managed to live through this ordeal.
For further information:
https://www.capitaltheatres.com/whats-on/all-shows/life-of-pi/2135
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh. 27 to Sat 29 June 2024
Tickets from £28.50 (could be a £1.50 handling fee)
Evenings 7.30pm / Matinees 2.30pm
Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes, including one interval
For ages 8 years and up.
Rating: 5/5 stars