PREVIEW: Life of Pi (Hennepin Arts) – Twin Cities Arts Reader

Pictured: Taha Mandviwala, Toussaint Jeanlouis, Shiloh Goodin, Anna Leigh Gortner, Sinclair Mitchell, Rishi Jaiswal, and Betsy Rosen, bringing to life a scene in the play Life of Pi, which opens March 4 at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.

Life of Pi is a best-selling novel, a hit film, and – in the version opening at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis on March 4 – an acclaimed and award-winning play.

The original novel from 2001, by Yann Martel, is a thrilling exploration on the meaning of life, perception, and truth, mixing deep thought and accessible ideas. These philosophical-fantastical mixings made some critics label it unfilmable, which director Ang Lee proved otherwise with his celebrated 2012 film adaptation. Devoted fans of the book streamed to theatres around the world, producing a word-of-mouth buzz that brought many non-readers pouring in after. And even after that, when a stage adaptation was proposed, some pundits pronounced it unadaptable. How, without camera cuts, could a stage play capture the spinning pivots in different visions of reality?

Taha Mandviwala (right) as Pi, with Toussaint Jeanlouis, Shiloh Goodin, Anna Leigh Gortner controlling Richard Parker the Tiger. Operating the complex, expressive puppets in *Life of Pi* required complex designs and work to lighten the puppets for safety and ease of operation. Still, the cast of puppeteers must undergo ongoing stamina and strength training, and is attended to by a physiotherapist and nutritionist because of the demands of operating these lifesize but hand- and body-driven puppets. Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.

Oh, the theatre producer says. A challenge! British theatrical producer Simon Friend commissioned a stage adaptation of the novel by Lolita Chakrabarti, a British Indian who had just successfully adapted Italo Calvino’s 1972 novel Invisible Cities, which itself jumps quickly between different philosophical discursions and settings.

After two years of workshops, Chakrabarti’s stage adaptation of Life of Pi premiered at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, in June 2019. After winning Best New Play (and a few others) at both the UK Theatre Awards and WhatsOnStage Awards, the production transferred to London’s West End in 2022 – and promptly walked home with 5 Laurence Oliver Awards, again including Best New Play.

A sea turtle (operated by Austin Wong Harper) has an up-close moment with Pi (Taha Mandviwala). Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.

If you know practically nothing about Life of Pi, you might be aware that it involves a human – Pi – trapped in a lifeboat with a tiger, who is very much a character in its own right. The thrilling drama that ensues plays with the senses in multiple, intricately intertwined ways, such that the 2023 Broadway adaptation brought home Tony Awards for Lighting, Scenic, and Sound Design. (It also took home three Drama Desk Awards, including in Outstanding Puppetry.)

Perhaps one of the best praises one might make for this thought-provoking, philosophical play is that it provides hours of after-show conversation fodder, in the same vein (but different) from the classical philosophical novel The Little Prince.

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Life of Pi runs March 4-9 at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, MN. Run time: 2 hours, 10 minutes with intermission. Recommended for persons 13+.

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Amy Donahue

Amy Donahue is a staff reviewer at the Twin Cities Arts Reader. She interned with the magazine during the summer of 2017, served as a guest contributor while studying abroad in Europe that fall, and has moved up to regular old reviewing. She served as interim Editor-in-Chief in 2023.

She admits to being at least 50% terrified of contemporary German opera.