Rehearsals began this week for the highly anticipated West End premiere of Life of Pi, Lolita Chakrabarti’s dazzling stage adaptation of Yann Martel’s award-winning book. For the first time ever, the historic Wyndham’s Theatre will be transformed to fully accommodate the magnificent elements of the production that left audiences mesmerised.
After a cargo ship sinks in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, there are five survivors stranded on a single lifeboat – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, a sixteen year-old boy and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. Time is against them, nature is harsh, who will survive?
Award winning writer Yann Martel’s works include The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios (1993), Self (1996), We Ate the Children Last (2004), Beatrice and Virgil (2010) – a New York Times Bestseller and a Financial Times Best Book, 101 Letters to a Prime Minister (2012) – a collection of letters to the prime minister of Canada; and The High Mountains of Portugal (2016).
Lolita Chakrabarti OBE is an award-winning playwright and actress. Her writing credits include: Red Velvet which opened at the Tricycle Theatre in London in 2012, returning in 2014 before transferring to New York and the West End; Red Velvet was nominated for nine major awards including two Olivier Awards. Lolita won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright, The Critics Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright and the AWA Award for Arts and Culture.
The extraordinary animals are brought to life by Puppet & Movement Director Finn Caldwell, who began his career in the original company of the National Theatre’s international phenomenon War Horse.
WYNDHAM’S THEATRE, Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0DA from 15 November – 27 February. Times: Monday 7:30pm; Wednesday – Saturday: 7:30pm; Thursday & Saturday matinees: 2:30pm, Sunday matinees: 3:00pm. Admission: £15 – £127.50.
Box Office: 0844 482 5151 – www.lifeofpionstage.com
