Why using animal puppets was a no-brainer for ‘Life of Pi’ stage adaptation in Mumbai

Apart from its striking visual effects what makes this show a unique experience is the amazing performance by the puppeteers. Shows of this five-time Olivier award-winning production will be held till December 22.

Owain Gwynn and Kate Colebrook(Richard Parker The Tiger) Photo by Johan Persson.

Using animal puppets was “a no-brainer” for Caldwell, who has previously collaborated with director Max Webster. The puppetry and movement director says, “The idea of the boy and the tiger trapped on the boat together for all that time presented a fantastic opportunity to develop a believable, nuanced, and emotional relationship.” Another draw for him, of course, was the opportunity to build “a devastatingly beautiful and scary tiger puppet”.

The team of puppeteers, however, had two major concerns while creating the show. “Can the tiger really be scary?” Secondly, “How can we be on the ocean for most of the second half?” For Caldwell, the answer to both questions was to take the audience with them on an imaginative journey. “Life of Pi is a story about stories. Theatre is a really good medium for that,” he says.

The approach and concerns of playwright Lolita Chakrabarti regarding the novel’s stage adaptation, understandably, were different. “I deconstructed the novel for its story beats, dialogue, philosophy, and characters and then chose what helped to tell the theatrical story. I had to invent a lot but most of it is inspired by the novel,” she recalls.

EK Elan James as Hyena (Photo by Ellie Kurttz.)

Considering that the novel’s screen adaptation has received much love and appreciation, did Chakrabarti feel the pressure of coming up with an engaging adaptation? “Up until the very first public performance, I had been very focused on the job at hand: How to tell this modern classical story well. Then, when we were about to open in front of our first audience all kinds of negative voices went off inside my head,” she recounts.

Chakrabarti believes that her Indian roots helped in giving shape to the script. “This is a story about an Indian family who emigrated to Canada. It’s about the love between them, the life without them, and reinventing yourself in a new place. These are all things that are familiar to me and, of course, my references for faith, food, relationships, and expectations of Indian parents were all taken from my own life,” says the playwright-actor.

Caldwell believes ‘Life of Pi’ is about the fact that the stories we tell ourselves create the world around us. “In the end, it is up to us as individuals whether we live in a world with a spiritual dimension or one of purely materialistic needs. I find this useful to remember when faced with the challenges and complexity of the modern world.”