The Life of Pi is coming to The Lowry for Christmas 2023

Lolita Chakrabarti’s dazzling 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, will play a Christmas season at The Lowry, Salford in 2023 as part of the production’s first ever UK Tour.

The tour will launch in Sheffield in August 2023, before playing The Lowry from Tuesday 5 December 2023 to Sunday 7th January 2024.

Tickets are on sale to Lowry members from today, and on General Sale on Monday 5 December 2022.

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?

Life of Pi was awarded 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 played ‘Richard Parker’ the puppet tiger – 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, which is running in the West End until 15 January 2023, first opened to critical acclaim at the Sheffield Crucible 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 Shoenfeld 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. 

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.”

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. 

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.

TICKETS ON GENERAL SALE FROM MON 5 DECEMBER 2022 AT 10AM