Lolita Chakrabarti’s Olivier Award winning stage adaption of Yann Martel’s best-selling novel Life of Pi, which is currently running at Wyndham’s Theatre in the West End and stars an extraordinary life-size puppeteered Bengal Tiger, begins its first ever tour of the UK and Ireland at the Sheffield’s Lyceum theatre in August 2023, where it will run from 29 August to 16 September 2023.
The critically acclaimed production also begins previews this week at American Repertory Theatre, and opens on Broadway next March.
The tour will then continue to Milton Keynes Theatre, Norwich Theatre Royal, Southend Cliffs Pavillion, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, Alhambra Theatre, Bradford, Chichester Festival Theatre, The Lowry, Salford, Bristol Hippodrome, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Theatre Royal Brighton, Birmingham Hippodrome, Grand Opera House, Belfast, Bord Gais Theatre, Dublin, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Curve Leicester, Hull New Theatre, Coventry Belgrade, Nottingham Theatre Royal, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, Liverpool Empire, Severn Theatre Shrewsbury, Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, Glasgow Theatre Royal, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Leeds Grand Theatre and finally Derngate Theatre in Northampton in July 2024.
Lolita Chakrabarti said: ‘It is incredible to begin this tour at Sheffield Theatres, where Life of Pi began its journey, and to start the tour across the country from this great city. It has been an extraordinary year in the West End and the success of the play has been both a privilege and a delight – from all the amazing awards to the standing ovations we get every night. It is testament to Yann Martel’s beautiful and moving story. I am so grateful for his trust and generosity in sharing it with me and allowing our amazing creative team to tell his story our way.’
Life of Pi, which is running in the West End until 15 January 2023, first opened to critical acclaim at the Crucible theatre in Sheffield in 2019. Future International plans for the show include its North American Premiere at the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University from 4 December 2022 to 29 January 2023, followed by its Broadway premiere at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre from 9 March 2024, with an official opening on 30 March 2024. A European tour will follow the tour of the UK and Ireland and there are plans underway for a tour of Australia and Asia.
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 an 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).
