From Yann Martell’s Extraordinary Novel “Life of Pi” Comes a Captivating and Visionary Five Star Fantasy at the Kennedy Center
Life of Pi
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Jordan Wright
December 21, 2024
Taha Mandviwala as Pi, and Richard Parker (Toussaint Jeanlouis, Shiloh Goodin, Anna Leigh Gortner) (Photo/Evan Zimmerman)
This extraordinary production follows Yann Martell’s novel as closely as I can recall. Having read the philosophical novel in 2001 when it earned the worldwide attention of book critics, later garnering the Man Booker Prize, I recalled a most unusual story. It tells of Pi (Taha Mandviwala and on the night I saw it was performed admirably by his understudy Savidu Geevaratne), a teenager growing up in Pondicherry, India surrounded by his family and the wild animals at his father’s botanical zoo. He’s a playful boy full of questions about God. Each week he attends a mosque, a church and a temple searching for answers. His sister, Rani, keeps an eye on him. “I just want to love God,” he reveals, as the holy men offer up the virtues of their different religions.
Butterflies, neon-colored fish, an orangutan, a dog, a sea turtle, hyenas and a giraffe are among the myriads of creatures you will see during Pi’s adventures, with each one representing certain challenges to a boy faced with the unthinkable. “My story will make you believe in God,” he tells the audience.
The country is in turmoil when his father announces they are going to relocate to Canada by ship taking the animals with them to start a new life. Before leaving his father takes in a Bengal tiger with the odd name of Richard Parker. Pi foolishly sneaks into his cage and is caught by his father who wants to teach his son a lesson by tossing in a beloved goat which Richard Parker promptly devours. “This world is dangerous,” his father warns his son.
Taha Mandviwala as Pi, and Richard Parker (Toussaint Jeanlouis, Shiloh Goodin, Anna Leigh Gortner) (Photo/Evan Zimmerman)
When the ship sinks in a dangerous storm and everyone is lost at sea, Pi must fend for himself on a small lifeboat. Soon a zebra named Black & White as well as the menacing Richard Parker climb aboard the small boat and Pi must face the dangers that lie ahead. Months at sea with a small cache of food and water from a discovered survival kit force Pi to reckon with his dire situation when he is joined by an equally desperate hyena who climbs into the boat and makes a meal of the zebra eyeing Pi as his next victim. Pi, raised in a Muslim household, shuns meat, compounding his survival even more.
In his delirium and as conditions become more dire with the passing months, members of his long-lost family appear to him with advice on how to survive. Admiral Jackson who wrote the survival book Pi finds in his ration box, tells him, “Kill or be killed.” When Pi’s father appears in another dream, he advises Pi to dominate the big cat, and with a small whistle and a large oar, Pi bravely cows the beast.
The story incorporates his family life at the zoo and his colorful village to his confinement on the boat and later a raft tied to the boat to distance himself from the tiger, to Pi’s rescue from the middle of the Pacific Ocean to an infirmary in Tomatlán, Mexico where he is interviewed by Mr. Okamoto from the Department of Transportation and Lulu Chen from the Canadian Embassy – both determined to extract Pi’s story of the shipwreck and how he survived. Neither believe his report. “We want a different story,” they insist.
Taha Mandviwala as Pi and Richard Parker (Toussaint Jeanlouis, Shiloh Goodin, Anna Leigh Gortner), Back-Sinclair Mitchell, Rishi Jaiswal, Betsy Rosen (Photo/Evan Zimmerman)
I thought of the psychologist Carl Jung’s book, “Man and His Symbols” and Joseph Campbell’s work on mythologies to parallel Pi’s search for the answers to life’s greatest questions through dreams and imagination. Life of Pi is both an extraordinary fable and a brilliant production incorporating fantastical puppetry, which, if you are familiar with Julie Taymor’s puppetry in the musical The Lion King, will help you to understand how this highly inventive story is told with the most imaginative stagecraft. It’s true that the theme is complex, like life, yet the story is universal and told in a poetical manner with humor, grace and beauty.
Highly recommended!!! This is one of the most moving, intellectually stimulating and visionary productions. The cast is marvelous and the puppetry captivating and irresistibly clever.
LIFE_OF_PI_NATIONAL TOUR_Taha Mandviwala as Pi, and Richard Parker (Toussaint Jeanlouis, Shiloh Goodin, Anna Leigh Gortner)_Photo by EVAN_ZIMMERMAN (3)
With Ben Durocher and Emmanuel Elpenord as Cook/Voice of Richard Parker; Sorab Wadia as Father; Sinclair Mitchell as Admiral Jackson/Russian Sailor/Father Martin; Jessica Angleskhan as Amma/Nurse/Orange Juice; Mi Kang as Lulu Chen/Mrs. Biology Kumar/Zaida Khan; Rishi Jaiswal as Mamaji/Pandit-Ji; Alan Ariano as Mr. Okamoto/Captain/Jai; Sharayu Mahale as Rani; Ben Durocher,Emmanuel Elpenord, Shiloh Goodin, Anna Leigh Gortner, Austin Wong Harper, Toussaint Jeanlouis, Intae Kim, Maya Rangulu, Betsy Rosen and Anna Vomacka as Richard Parker/Puppeteer.
Novel adapted by Lolita Chakrabati; Directed by Max Webster; Scenic and Costume Design by Tim Hatley; Puppetry and Movement Director Finn Caldwell; Puppet Design by Nick Barnes & Finn Caldwell; Video & Animation Design by Andrzej Goulding; Lighting Design by Tim Lutkin & Tim Deiling; Sound Design by Carolyn Downing; Hair & Wig Design by David Brian Brown & Meg Murphy; Composer Andrew T. Mackay; Dramaturg Jack Bradley.
Through January 5th at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20566. For tickets and information call the box office at 202.467.4600 or visit the website at www.Kennedy-Center.org