LIFE OF PI Will Embark On Worldwide Tour Following UK and Ireland Tour
Engagements begin at the Royal Theater Carré in Amsterdam in August 2024.
By: Stephi Wild Nov. 24, 2023
Lolita Chakrabarti's dazzling Olivier Award-winning stage adaptation of Life of Pi, starring an extraordinary life-size puppeteered Bengal Tiger today confirms that it will follow its year-long UK and Ireland tour with an international tour. Engagements begin at the Royal Theater Carré in Amsterdam in August 2024, where it plays from 28 August – 8 September 2024, followed by engagements internationally.
Earlier this year, the spellbinding show made its Broadway premiere at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater where it opened on 9 March 2023 and - having opened to celebratory reviews - added three Tony Awards to its impressive number of trophies, scooping Best Scenic Design of a Play (Tim Hatley & Andrzej Goulding) and Best Lighting Design of a Play (Tim Lutkin) and Best Sound Design of a Play (Carolyn Downing) at the 2023 awards.
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 (Tim Hatley, Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell), and lighting design (Tim Lutkin and Andrzej Goulding).
Of the production's international extension, Producer, Simon Friend says: “We have been enormously grateful for, and excited by, the interest in Life of Pi by theatres internationally. While our show will encounter many different cultures on its travels, this wonderful story which celebrates human resilience against adversity is entirely universal. It also seems that lots of people love puppets.”
Life of Pi began its first-ever tour of the UK and Ireland at Sheffield's Lyceum theatre this August and is currently playing an extended season at the Chichester Festival Theatre. Following its Christmas season at The Lowry, Salford, the UK and Ireland tour then continues to: Leeds Grand Theatre; Bristol Hippodrome; Newcastle Theatre Royal; Birmingham Hippodrome; Grand Opera House; Belfast, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin; Theatre Royal Plymouth; Curve Leicester; Churchill Theatre, Bromley; Hull New Theatre; Derngate Theatre, Northampton; Coventry Belgrade; Nottingham Theatre Royal; Wolverhampton Grand Theatre; Liverpool Empire; Severn Theatre Shrewsbury; Mayflower Theatre, Southampton; Hall For Cornwall, Truro; Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham; Glasgow Theatre Royal; and finally the Edinburgh Festival Theatre in June 2024.
Life of Pi, which concluded its West End run on 15 January 2023, first opened to critical acclaim at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield in 2019. Previous international commitments for the show include its North American Premiere at the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University where it ran from 4 December 2022 to 29 January 2023, followed by its Broadway premiere at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater where it opened on 9 March 2024.
The production is Directed by Max Webster, Set and Costume Designer is Tim Hatley, the Puppet Designers are Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell, the Puppet and Movement Director is Finn Caldwell, the Video Designer is Andrzej Goulding, the Lighting Designer is Tim Lutkin, the Sound Designer is Carolyn Downing, the Composer is Andrew T Mackay, Dramaturgy is by Jack Bradley, the Casting Director is Polly Jerrold, the Associate Director is Leigh Toney, the Associate Puppetry and Movement Director is Scarlet Wilderink, the Associate Set Designer is Ross Edwards, the Associate Puppet Designer is Caroline Bowman, the Costume Supervisor is Sabrina Cuniberto and the Props Supervisor is Ryan O'Conner.
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.
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?
Award-winning writer Yann Martel's works include The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios (1993), Self (1996), We Ate the Children Last (2004), Beatrice and Virgil (2010) – a New York Times Bestseller and a Financial Times Best Book, 101 Letters to a Prime Minister (2012) – a collection of letters to the prime minister of Canada; and The High Mountains of Portugal (2016).
Life of Pi is produced by Simon Friend in association with Playing Field and Tulchin/Bartner.
International Tour Dates
Royal Theater Carré, Amsterdam
28 Aug – 8 Sep 2024
Life of Pi - Royal Theatre Carré Amsterdam (carre.nl)
UK and Ireland Tour Dates
Chichester Festival Theatre
16 November – 2 December
Lowry, Salford
5 December 2023 – 7 January 2024
Leeds Grand Theatre
10– 13 January 2024
Bristol Hippodrome
15 – 20 January 2024
Newcastle Theatre Royal
23 January –27 January 2024
His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen
30 January – 3 February 2024
Birmingham Hippodrome
12 – 17 February 2024
Grand Opera House, Belfast
20 – 24 February 2024
Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin
27 February – 2 March 2024
Theatre Royal Plymouth
5 – 9 March 2024
Leicester Curve
12 – 17 March 2024
Bromley, Churchill Theatre
19 – 23 March
Hull New Theatre
25 – 30 March 2024
Northampton Derngate Theatre
2 – 6 April 2024
Nottingham Theatre Royal
15 – 20 April 2024
Wolverhampton Grand Theatre
23– 27 April 2024
Liverpool Empire
30 April – 4 May 2024
Severn Theatre, Shrewsbury
7– 11 May 2024
Mayflower Theatre, Southampton
14 – 18 May 2024
Theatre Royal, Bath
20 – 25 May 2024
Truro, Hall for Cornwall
28 May – 01 June 2024
Cheltenham Everyman Theatre
10 – 15 June 2024
Glasgow Theatre Royal
17 – 22 June 2024
Edinburgh Festival Theatre
25 – 29 June 2024
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