STARRING a life-size puppeteered Bengal Tiger, the Olivier Award-winning stage adaptation of Life of Pi will be on stage in Southampton in 2024.

Lolita Chakrabarti’s dazzling take on Yann Martel’s best-selling novel Life of Pi, which has recently finished its run at Wyndham’s Theatre in the West End, is set to begin its first-ever tour of the UK and Ireland.

The critically acclaimed production will be at Mayflower Theatre from May 14 to 18.

READ MORE: Titanic the Musical set to return to Southampton in April 2023

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?

Based on one of the best-loved works of fiction – winner of the Man Booker Prize, selling over fifteen million copies worldwide – Life of Pi is a breath-taking new theatrical adaptation of an epic journey of endurance and hope.

Life of Pi won five Olivier Awards in April 2022. As well as Best New Play, and Best Actor for Hiran Abeysekera (the original Pi); in a historic first for the Olivier Awards the seven performers who puppeteer the Tiger ‘Richard Parker’ were collectively awarded Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The production also picked up awards for set and lighting design.

Life of Pi first opened to critical acclaim at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield in 2019. It then played almost 500 performances in London. 

Daily Echo:

Lolita Chakrabarti said: "It has been an extraordinary year in the West End and the success of the play has been both a privilege and a delight - from all the amazing awards to the standing ovations we get every night. It is testament to Yann Martel’s beautiful and moving story."

Casting for the tour is yet to be announced.

The production also begins previews this week at American Repertory Theatre, and opens on Broadway next March. A European tour will follow the tour of the UK and Ireland and there are plans underway for a tour of Australia and Asia.

Tickets for Life of Pi, which runs from May 14 to 18 2024, are on sale at mayflower.org.uk

 

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