The play was phenomenal, with even Time Out quoting that it was ‘One of the most stunning theatre productions.’ The other worldly take on this psychological fiction concept was done exceedingly well by Lolita Chakrabarti who was the playwright, and Max Webster who was the director

The beloved novel by Yann Martel has now finally been adapted for the stage, debuting in Wyndham’s Theatre in the West End in November 2021. This stage adaption in particular has been a smash hit, with it winning five Laurence Olivier awards; one of these including Best New Play. So, the question here is, is £18 of your hard-earned cash really worth two hours and five minutes of your time?

It goes without saying, that this play’s technical aspect was unmatched. It is easy to underestimate the fact that a play’s mechanics are the crux that the whole production depends on. I can confidently say, however, that the theatre version was portrayed so vividly, perhaps even more so than the movie as each detail –no matter how minute- was taken into heavy consideration. This created an evocative sense of realism to the audience which inevitably sucked in everyone, engaging them fully. For me personally, I found myself on the edge of my seat, multiple times throughout the show, and fully immersed in the atmosphere of the performance.

It’s also important to note, and with great emphasis that the magic of the plot was not lost, but rather was enhanced through each of the play’s specific features, whether that be the lighting effects and projected rainfall, each individuals’ actor’s movement on stage, with their pace ranging from quick and urgent to slow motion to connotate different messages, to the use of puppets to create an extremely lifelike reenactment of each animal that was involved. For this, we must thank Finn Caldwell, the movement and puppet director / designer for bringing into being a concept that would’ve thought to be near to impossible on a stage.

Conclusively, I do strongly believe that this show was worth every penny. My only question to you now is, what on earth are you still doing without a ticket?