Life of Pi is a stage adaptation of the famous novel by Yann Martel. It’s a great story, and the stage production is very impressive with the use of puppets to portray the animals. Here’s my Life of Pi theatre review.
Overview of Life of Pi
Life of Pi is a great stage adaptation of the novel by Yann Martel. If you’ve read the book, or seen the film, you probably know the plot – but my Life of Pi theatre review won’t give away the twist at the end of the show, just in case you don’t know what happens!
Life of Pi follows Pi, a 17 year old boy. Or rather – in the book, Pi is a boy. In the theatre production I saw, Pi was played by a girl. But in both, Pi is the main character. Pi lives in India with their family, who own a zoo. But they have an opportunity to move to Canada. So the family packs up their life, including the zoo animals, and get on a boat to sail to start their new life.
However, tragedy strikes when there’s a shipwreck. Pi manages to get into the lifeboat, but is appalled to find that their only companions in the lifeboat are animals: the zebra, the orangutan, the hyena, and the tiger. The story follows Pi’s attempts to survive at sea in a small lifeboat with these animals. And at the end of the show, there’s a great twist to the story as well.
What I liked about Life of Pi
I really like the story Life of Pi, so I enjoyed seeing it on stage. I think it’s a really well-written and clever story. The story (both the book and on stage) start with the line ‘I can tell you a story that will make you believe in God’. And the story, with its twist at the end, is definitely thought-provoking. It definitely makes you think a bit about life and beliefs.
My favourite part of the stage show was the puppetry for the animals. It was just amazing how they made the animals so life-like – you could almost forget they were puppets. The actors made the animals move so realistically, and the colours and design of the puppets were amazing. My favourite was the tiger, but they were all good.
There was also really good use of projections in this show on the floor. They managed to make the floor look so much like the sea, with it blue and moving, that you could really believe that Pi and the tiger really were in a boat in the middle of the sea. The whole production really transported me to that world, and it felt so realistic.
What I wasn’t so sure about
There wasn’t anything I didn’t like about Life of Pi on stage. I thought it was a brilliant adaptation of the book. It stayed true to the story that I love, and the staging was brilliant.
Would I recommend Life of Pi
I would definitely recommend Life of Pi on stage. My Life of Pi theatre review is really positive! I think it’s one of the best plays I’ve ever seen. I often prefer musicals to plays – but this play is up there with some of the best things I’ve seen on stage. It was really enjoyable and thought-provoking as well, so I’d definitely recommend this show.
Hope you enjoyed my Life of Pi theatre review! Check out my other theatre reviews for more shows in the West End, across the UK and the world.
