“Life of Pi” at Segerstrom Center for the Arts
Annie Loui in Newport Beach, California
7 June 2025
I may be the last critic in the world who has seen this, but the people around me seemed new to it and the piece worked its spell over all of us.
Photo credit: Evan Zimmerman.
This is a mystical parable about a boy adrift in the sea on a raft shared with a Bengal tiger. Is that the real story or a springboard for something else?
Told through puppetry and elegantly staged scenes woven into a kaleidoscope of backdrops, projections and cleverly revealing windows, the production takes us on an epic journey. It is based on the 2001 novel by Canadian Yann Martel which has also spawned a film. The innate beauty and robustness of the narrative – taken at any level – ensure that it succeeds across many forms. This stage adaptation is by the versatile Lolita Chakrabarti.
Our hero is a sincere young man seeking spiritual truth in the world. His parents run a zoo until political unrest and rioting in their corner of India manifest in random acts of violence and cruelty such as somebody smashing the flamingo’s beak and putting razorblades in the elephant’s apples.
“The most dangerous animal in the zoo is man” says the Father before leading the family (and the zoo) out of danger and onto a boat headed for Canada. Disaster ensues, and we are left with the story of Pi and a tiger with no food on a boat floating across the Pacific. Who will survive?
The structure and its tiers of meaning are complex and lyrical. The audience is carried by currents and eddies, the inventive animal puppets, and the slick choreography depicting some of the more dramatic moments of the storytelling. These include a physical transition, done in slow motion, as we witness the shipwreck. A storm at sea goes into a becalming process set off by a sunset as glowing fish leap into the sky and pass on physical joy from their movement to the audience.
There must be manifold interpretations. But most would take as their point of departure the idea that this is a sequence of self-realization and ethical reckoning. The surrounding spectacle is a vehicle for what is essentially a one-man show. So, kudos to the excellent Taha Mandviwala who portrays Pi with an athleticism and sincerity that hold the story together.
Kudos as well to the trio who operate the tiger puppet with subtle breath and body co-ordination. The tiger feels real; we are uncertain where it will move. It feels full of power and grace and … threat. The company of strong physical actors transforms smoothly into multiple characters, set-manipulators, and puppeteers who collectively reveal the tale.
Life of Pi is adaptable as a narrative which has meant that all the iterations have been successful be they the book, movie, London production of the stage adaptation or the iteration (same adaptation) that I describe here. The questions about ethics and faith and survival that anchor the story make it timeless, and the lyricism adds extra heft. Plays through June 15th.
