Life of Pi: The theatrical version at NMACC
When I first read Yann Martel’s Man Booker award winning novel, Life of Pi, I thought it was too obtuse and philosophical to be made into a movie. How would a talking Royal Bengal tiger named Richard Parker translate on screen?
But Ang Lee’s interpretation on screen was spectacular. The almost lyrical visual imagery on screen in the multiple Academy Award winning film left such an impact on the mind. Life of Pi was special to me because of my own Pondicherry connection.
And so when I heard that a stage version was making its debut at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Convention Centre (NMACC), curiosity got the better of me. How would the turbulence of a tempest play out on a flat stage? And how indeed would a pacing tiger appear on stage without looking like a cardboard copy?
This afternoon I caught up with a retelling of the masterpiece by playwright Lolita Chakrabarti. The Indian version has actors from the UK. The first thing which caught me unawares was that in our show, Piscine Molitor Patel has been reimagined as a female protagonist, still named Pi. A lithe Sonya Venugopal prances around with Richard Parker on a lifeboat in the choppy seas, and displays great body language. It makes no difference to the narrative, when she appears on the weekend shows instead of Divesh Subaskaran, whose name is announced on the brochure. After all it is a universal tale of resilience and survival amidst the odds.
But the people who steal the show in this production directed by Max Webster are the puppetry artists. To create Richard Parker, the tiger, Black and White, the zebra, Orange Juice, the orangutan and the hyena on stage must be such a painstaking exercise. And they get the gait of all these animals right each time. The pounce of the aggressive tiger, the whimper of a starving sea-sick tiger, the nasty laugh of the hyena– all are done to perfection.
To be fair, a play cannot have the same impact as a film. But it is a very good effort. The different accents of the characters might not work very well with Indian audiences. And a play doesn’t quite have the same mood as a musical. And if only NMACC could keep us warmer. The temperatures in the Grand theatre were freezing in the afternoon show.
Nevertheless, it is an impressive effort. Especially with the stage effects with the sea and the flying fish. But if you asked me what I will remember, it will be Richard Parker’s prowling gait. The play is showing at NMACC until 22nd December 2024. Catch up with this award winning production.
