West End stage show Life of Pi arrives at The Lowry with stunning life-sized tiger puppet

Audiences are coming face-to-face with a 'tiger' as multi award-winning West End show Life of Pi arrives in the North - and it is already a roaring success.

The stage production, which won five Olivier Awards, is currently touring the UK, stopping off at the Lowry Theatre in Salford for Christmas and New Year.

With its immersive storytelling, breathtaking sets and life-size animal puppets, the novel and Hollywood film has been adapted beautifully for the stage.

Life of Pi tells the story of a teenage boy who is stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger. Credit: Life of Pi

Based on the 2001 novel by Yann Martel, Life of Pi tells the tale of an Indian boy who is the sole human survivor of a shipwreck in the Pacific Ocean.

The 16-year-old spends more than 200 days stranded on a small lifeboat with none other than a Royal Bengal tiger called Richard Parker - but not is all as it seems.

The novel was first adapted into an Oscar-winning film back in 2012, packed with CGI wizardry, but the cast and crew for the stage show do not have that luxury.

Instead the audience are treated to life-sized puppets controlled by highly skilled puppeteers who have studied the movements of tigers, orangutans, zebras are more, in order to bring the enchanting story to life.

The puppet is controlled by three people at a time. Credit: Life of Pi

The character Richard Parker is controlled by three puppeteers at once; one person controls the tiger's head and the other two control its body.

"It's heavy", puppeteer and actor Romina Hytten explains. "It's made of wood and plaster.

"The designers made it as light as possible but sometimes we're wearing if for as long as 24 minutes on stage. It can be quite physical so we have to look after our bodies a lot."

Puppeteer and actor Peter Twose added: "It's a privilege. Trying to play an apex predator is a real challenge and a thrill to try to bring that level of dangerousness to life every night."

Divesh Subaskaran, who plays Pi in the stage show, says it had also been a "privilege" to be part of a predominately South Asian cast.

"But I also think this play deals with really universal themes that don't really have anything to do with identity", he said.

"I think all of us can relate to adversity, hardship and survival."

  • Life of Pi will be at The Lowry Theatre in Salford from 5 December 2023 until 7 January 2024.

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