MULTI OLIVIER AND TONY AWARD-WINNING PRODUCTION OF LIFE OF PI TO MAKE CANADIAN PREMIERE
For Immediate Release
Media Contact: John Karastamatis, Sue Toth, Erin Nantais
SEPTEMBER 3 TO OCTOBER 6, 2024 AT TORONTO’S CAA ED MIRVISH THEATRE
TICKETS ON SALE MONDAY JUNE 3, 2024
Based on the best-selling and Man Booker Prize-winning book by Canadian author Yann Martel, Lolita Chakrabarti’s dazzling Olivier and Tony Award-winning stage adaption of Life of Pi embarks on another exciting adventure when it makes its Canadian premiere at Toronto’s CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre, September 3 through October 6, 2024. Toronto will be the only Canadian city where theatregoers can experience this extraordinary show.
Tickets will be available at 10AM on Monday June 3 at mirvish.com or by calling 1.800.461.3333
Martel’s extraordinary story of family, resilience and survival and the natural world was made into an Oscar-winning film in 2012. This breath-taking theatrical adaptation is a natural evolution for the source, as it utilizes the communal power of live storytelling and imagination, two of the other central themes of the original novel.
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?
"It will make you believe in theatre. A Triumph.” - Sunday Times
“Everything about this production is amazing” - The Observer
★★★★★ “An extraordinary journey. Unmissable” - The Guardian
★★★★★ “The puppetry is out of this world” - Mail On Sunday
Life of Pi, which concluded its West End run on January 15, 2023, first opened to critical acclaim at the Crucible theatre in Sheffield in 2019. The production won five Olivier Awards in 2022 including Best New Play, 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).
Life of Pi made its Broadway premiere on March 9, 2023 to celebratory reviews. At the Tony Awards that year it won three of its five nominated categories: 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).
The Creative Team
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.
Life of Pi is presented in Toronto by David Mirvish and produced by Simon Friend in association with Playing Field and Tulchin/Bartner.