REVIEW: Life of Pi gleams with unforgettable puppets
iPhoto caption: Photo by Johan Persson.
If Life of Pi is any indication, it’s going to be a great year for puppets in Toronto.
Based on the beloved novel by Yann Martel (and more fractious 2012 film adaptation), the exquisite touring production now playing at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre uses puppets as its vocabulary, asking complex questions about storytelling and the power of imagination. As we follow youngster Pi (Divesh Subaskaran) through his harrowing coming-of-age — complete with gentle ruminations on religion and a devastating shipwreck — we come to realize that words can’t be the primary vessel for the intricacies of Pi’s story.
And so, in the absence of language, there’s a different kind of syntax, a visual feast that at times makes Life of Pi feel less like a play and more like a ballet. When we meet Pi and his zookeeping family in India, their physical world, designed by Tim Hatley, meets them where they are: Sterile white walls transform into zoo enclosures, and delicate butterflies flutter above their heads. When it becomes clear that the Patels must flee to Canada, their surroundings shepherd them into this new life, evolving into the fetid decks of a cargo ship.
Pi and his family aren’t alone: They’re surrounded by animals, untamed beasts who can’t help but chomp at passersby. When Pi meets the gorgeous, dangerous Bengal tiger for the first time, he hopes never to see the creature again, so appalled he is by the cat’s instinct to kill.
But that’s not how the story goes.
Lolita Chakrabarti’s adaptation leans into Martel’s framing device, using a federal investigation as an entry point to what Pi experienced while at sea. Mrs. Okamoto (Lilian Tsang), an official from the Japanese Ministry of Transport, can’t grasp how Pi could have survived such a tragedy — surely, this gangly teen couldn’t have floated to the coast of Mexico with only his thoughts and a tiger for company.
That incredulity shapes a theatrical experience as narratively rewarding as it is optically rich. Smart double-casting makes the animals all the more alluring — Pi’s generous, radiant mother (Goldy Notay) re-appears inside the body of an orangutan, and religious leaders from a smattering of faiths peek through the skeletons of a zebra, a hyena, and, indeed, the tiger. The life-sized puppets, designed by Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell, render Pi’s menagerie fiercely alive. Not once during Life of Pi do an actor’s hands or eyes distract from the animal on their backs — indeed, director Max Webster’s staging sculpts the creature-performer groupings as individual, cohesive units.
Subaskaran has a tough job to do as Pi — in many ways, the play functions as a solo show, demanding Pi serve as a bridge between the audience and the work’s immersive, abstracted reality. But Subaskaran nails it, conjuring Pi’s innocence and fatigue in equal amounts. When Life of Pi asks its protagonist to contemplate competing spiritualities with lighthearted good nature, he does so; when the play then hurls those religions at him in concert with tropical storms and ravenous tigers, he survives. It’s fascinating to watch Pi’s layers evolve with the play, and Subaskaran particularly thrives in Life of Pi’s second act as he mourns his smart, protective sister Rani (a lovely Riya Rajeev) and quietly loving father (Ameet Chana).
A word on projections: Folks planning to buy a ticket may want to opt for the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre’s mezzanine. Andrzej Goulding’s video designs, beamed onto the floor of the stage, further elevate the play’s visual scope, and those projections aren’t easily visible from the orchestra level. While Life of Pi is still fabulous from the ground floor, it’s easy to imagine how much sweeter it might be with the full stage picture in view.
High-quality puppetry can be hard to come by in this city, and I’m hoping Life of Pi is a sign of what might be to come later in the season. And indeed, the puppets need not stop with Pi — Ronnie Burkett’s Wonderful Joe plays the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts next month, and The Lion King will begin its sit-down engagement at the Princess of Wales Theatre in November. While I can’t imagine a puppet performance which tops that of Richard Parker the Bengal tiger, I’m not sure I want to, either — I think I’ll hear that roar in the back of my head forever.
Life of Pi runs until October 6 at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre. Tickets are available here.
Intermission reviews are independent and unrelated to Intermission’s partnered content. Learn more about Intermission’s partnership model here.
Aisling Murphy
Aisling is Intermission's former senior editor and the theatre reporter for the Globe and Mail. She likes British playwright Sarah Kane, most songs by Taylor Swift, and her cats, Fig and June. She was a 2024 fellow at the National Critics Institute in Waterford, CT.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: Kayla Sakura Charchuk, Jay Leonard Juatco, Kimberly-Ann Truong, Jun Kung, and Raugi Yu in Cambodian Rock Band. Set design by Jung-Hye Kim, costume design by Stephanie Kong, lighting design by Itai Erdal. Photo by Moonrider Productions.
REVIEW: Cambodian Rock Band makes scintillating Canadian premiere at Vancouver’s Arts Club
Jumping back and forth through time, it weaves the story of a father-daughter relationship together with high-energy musical performances and meditations on the traumatic effects of the Cambodian genocide.
iPhoto caption: Photo of Tara Sky by Jeremy Mimnagh. Set design by Shannon Lea Doyle, costume design by Asa Benally, lighting design by Hailey Verbonac.
REVIEW: The Born-Again Crow is an ardent ode to unproductivity
Director Jessica Carmichael’s Toronto premiere production trucks along with the passionate force of an early-2000s emo rock hit, imbuing this systemic critique with rousing, playful life.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Kendra Epik.
REVIEW: House + Body’s Measure for Measure weds the beautiful with the troubling
House + Body provides few answers about how to resist (or further, dismantle) a corrupt government. But layered portrayals of the play’s central characters convey the emotional stakes of a system that allows for egregious abuses of power.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Red Snow Collective’s Carried by the River is still finding its flow
Playing in the Tarragon Theatre Extraspace, Carried by the River delivers visually striking images and impressive choreography but struggles to find emotional depth and cohesion.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Outside the March’s Performance Review is claustrophobic for all the right reasons
It’s up close and personal, with lots of eye contact and sometimes only inches of distance between playwright-performer Rosamund Small and the audience.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Against a bloody backdrop, Trident Moon pays homage to the power of resilience
Playing at Crow’s Theatre and set during the 1947 partition of India, the intense fictionalized drama offers a graceful depiction of several women’s high-stakes struggle to resist.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Aisling Murphy.
In the darkest months of Yukon winter, it’s all about the Sun Room
I’m here for a week in January as a guest of Nakai Theatre, a hub for theatrical experimentation and outside-the-box programming in Canada’s westernmost territory.
Armchairs, tattoos, and an online theatre magazine
When I started at Intermission, my world was limited to the confines of an armchair. Arts journalism was a high it felt dangerously fruitless to chase. The life stretched ahead of me was amorphous and frightening, a chasm filled with hand sanitizer and immigration concerns. It was worth crying over a spilled kombucha and scrubbing at the stain.
iPhoto caption: Liz Appel headshot courtesy of Liz Appel.
Five questions with Wights playwright Liz Appel
Intermission spoke with Appel over email for a brief Q&A about Wights, now playing at Crow’s Theatre until February 9.
Call for applications: Publishing and editorial assistant
Intermission Magazine is seeking a dynamic and collaborative individual to join our team.
iPhoto caption: What Writing Can Do: The 2025 Musical Theatre Critics Lab
Announcing What Writing Can Do: The 2025 Musical Theatre Critics Lab
What Writing Can Do is timed to coincide with the Grand and Theatre Aquarius’ co-production of Waitress, which will serve as a jumping-off point for discussions throughout the Lab.
iPhoto caption: A Christmas Story production still by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: A Christmas Story feels fresh at Theatre Aquarius
If you want to catch A Christmas Story before it closes, good luck — the show is close to sold out, and with the talent on that stage, it’s not hard to see why.
Comments