Pi (Piscine) Patel* (Hiran Abeysekera) has spent two hundred twenty-seven days adrift in a lifeboat successively with an injured zebra named Black n’ White, a salivating hyena, an orangutan called Orange Juice that has motion sickness, and Richard Parker, a 450 pound Bengal tiger. The hyena disemboweled the zebra and beheaded the ape, the tiger made swift work of the hyena and an errant meerkat. That left Pi and Richard Parker starving, dehydrated, and crazed in a six month stand-off.
Having been the sole (human) survivor of a catastrophic ship wreck in which he lost his parents and sister, the 17year-old is recovering from physical debilitation and PTSD in a Mexican hospital. As he’s being interviewed by Mr. Okamoto (Daisuke Tsuji) from the Japanese Ministry of Transport and Lulu Chen (Kirstin Louie) of the Canadian Embassy (the Patels were emigrating ), scenario morphs seamlessly back and forth from the hospital room to recreation of his chronicle. Pi asks Mr. Okamoto whether he’s religious. The representative is an atheist. “..I will tell you everything Mr Okamoto… because my story will make you believe in God,” Pi says.
Rajesh Bose (father) Hiran Abeysekera (Pi)
We meet the family at their faltering zoo: Santosh Patel (Rajesh Bose), his wife Gita, called Amma (Mahira Kakkar), both actors grounded and sympathetic, and his sister, Rani (Sonja Venugopal). Pi’s aunt/teacher (Salma Qarnain) and her son Pandit-Ji (Sathya Sridharan) are also present, if unnecessary. (The only excess in Lolita Chakrabarti’s terrific adaptation.) Patched up walls of bars are arranged and rearranged to accommodate the above animals, plus a giraffe and family pet, a goat called Buckingham who’s sacrificed to teach Pi a hard lesson about the immutable nature of wild beasts.
Life of Pi wouldn’t exist without fantastic puppetry designed by Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell. Ingenuity, imagination, knowledge of animal anatomy and even habits manifest creatures that despite multiple puppeteers, take on a life of their own. We often stop seeing handlers. Puppeteers deserve a separate standing ovation. Not since The Lion King, excepting War Horse (for which these artists were also responsible), have we seen such easily anthropomorphized characters. They breathe, feel, and emote. Puppeteers spend the show in unfathomable positions. One can only hope there’s a physical therapist on staff. Ouch.
The Company
The revolving set opens to reveal a colorful, teeming marketplace. Local leaders of Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism welcome and vie for Pi who searches for stability as the ground shifts beneath him. “I just want to love God and they’re all next door to each other…If God is good and kind, why is there so much violence?” he asks one. “When we die where do we go?” he asks another. Ground then literally disappears as the Patels and their treasured zoo sail. The square becomes a cargo ship’s deck. Suspicion and anger felt on land are also experienced at sea. That his parents innocently want to see a menu doesn’t help the crew’s attitude towards them. Only perpetually optimistic Pi makes friends.
A fantastic storm created with light, projected rain and sound tosses people and frees animals. Pi is thrown into a lifeboat which appears like magic. Animals climb on and, except for Richard Parker, are dispatched. “How is that all possible?” asks Mr. Okamoto. “I admit it’s unexpected,” Pi responds. “Have you seen a psychiatrist, Mr. Patel?” the official presses. With help from ghosts of his family and Admiral Jackson (Avery Glymph) who authored the survival manual among the boat’s few rations, Pi learns methods of endurance.
Sonya Venugopal, Celia Mei Rubin, Hiran Abeysekera (Pi)
He and Mr. Parker, at this point a vegetarian and a meat-eater, circle one another as they suffer unforgiving elements, physical failings and voyages of the mind. (Can a tiger experience the latter, one wonders?) We count the days without water. Script makes short shift of a carnivorous island at which Pi finds teeth in the fruit. The tiger is magisterial, hungry and watchful. We think we see him grow thin and haggard. Are there two puppets or is this mass hallucination? Pi is exhausted, angry, determined, and grateful. Then, “the company of my torment, fierce thing that kept me alive disappeared forever,” he tells his interlocutors.
Mr. Okamoto needs to turn in his report. The kind of man who would have seen The Little Prince’s drawing of a boa constrictor swallowing an elephant as a hat, he’s incredulous and dismissive, fearing for his job. Miss Chen is protective, more open minded. Pi then offers an alternative version of his tale, substituting people for animals. Richard Parker is his alter ego. Now the officials have two versions. Which will they use? Which would you?
Hiran Abeysekera (Pi), Fred Davis, Scarlet Wilderink, Andrew Wilson (Richard Parker)
The company is superb, Hiran Abeysekera extraordinary. Entirely believable, the young actor is focused, vibrant, graceful. Interaction with animals s deft. Pi exudes gravitas and life force, a compelling combination. Already earning an Olivier, Abeysekera is worthy of a Tony.
Director Max Webster‘s manifestation of this fantastical story is an accomplishment. The fable loses none of the book’s philosophical aura. Transitions are smooth. Performance by humans and puppets alike is character specific. There’s nothing airy fairy or Hollywood about this production. It’s a tale for adults and children (not too young) alike – dynamic, memorable theater.
Rowan Magee, Celia Mei Rubin, and Nikki Calonge as Richard Parker
Tim Hatley won an Olivier for his extremely inventive set design. Land and sea structures are rich, detailed, and well composed. Pi’s falling overboard with a splash that leaves him partly under the stage floor is a marvelous illusion as is movement and magical appearance of the boat and that which floats by. Use of smaller puppets – fish and butterflies, stars – is lovely. Hatley’s costumes are both attractive and correct.
Video designer Andrzej Goulding and lighting designer Tim Lutkin create storm, sea and sky like an illustrated book. Evocation of water might require Dramamine. As composed by Andrew T. Mackay, music richly enhances rather than distracts. Carolyn Downing’s sound design is pristine and expressive.
* Pi received his name as homage to a family friend, Francis Adirubasamy, a great swimmer who spoke highly of the Piscine Molitor pool in Paris. The boy renamed himself to escape jokes about his name.
Photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for Murphy Made
Life of Pi
Based on the novel by Yann Martel
Adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti
Directed by Max Webster
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
236 West 45th Street
