The Life of Pi
Wyndham’s Theatre February 27th, 2hrs and 5 minutes
Rating: 
The Drifters Girl
Garrick Theatre in London Until March 26, 2hrs 20mins
Rating: 
The legendary The Lion King with its amazing animal puppetry may have finally been eclipsed.
The Life of PiYou get the impossible. A 16-year old boy is stranded in a lifeboat along with a Bengal Tiger, Hyena, Zebra, and a Hyena. The puppets look so real you’d be able to see them in person.
The adaptation of Yann Martel’s Booker-winning 2001 novel – also a film – is told in flashback from the lad’s hospital bed in Mexico.
The tiger (above) has three visible operators – but you never notice them. Watch it prowling the lifeboat’s gunwales, crouching, sniffing the ocean. It’s a living thing
Pi’s ship sank along with his family and most of their zoo. He recalls his 227 days at sea with only biscuits, an umbrella and a how-to-survive manual (top tip: drink turtle blood – it has no salt).
Hiran Abeysekera has the sweetest smile of a traumatized, eccentric Pi. The star is the Tiger (right).
We’ve all been to panto and felt sorry for whoever is in the rear end of Daisy the cow. This lethal beast has three visible operators – but you never notice them. Watch it prowling the lifeboat’s gunwales, crouching, sniffing the ocean. It’s a living thing!
Adapted for the stage by Lolita Chakrabarti, the parched horrors of Pi’s experience are matched by his allegorical animal visions, splendidly realised in Max Webster’s production by Finn Caldwell and Nick Barnes’s puppetry.
My only hesitation is that, while the puppets are real, the human cast – notably Pi’s interviewers on dry land – are rather wooden. For theatregoers seeking a fresh dimension in storytelling and puppetry, however, this story of fur and courage is absolutely amazing.
The Drifters Girl stars the ‘Queen of British soul’, Beverley Knight, as the remarkable Faye Treadwell, who turned Atlantic Records’ hottest vocal group into a global phenomenon.
She’s great, but it’s the boys who own this show. Shiny- suited, with indelible smiles, these cats groove immaculately through The Drifters’ gorgeous songbook.
Tarinn Callender, Adam J. Bernard, Matt Henry – all are memorable. Tosh Wanogho Maud, Rudy Lewis’ tentative and gay, is just as adorable.
Stand By Me is a total belter – ditto Saturday Night At The Movies, Under The Boardwalk, Come On Over To My Place. The lads hilariously play the white parts too – even Bruce Forsyth at the Palladium.
It is an indelible show full of magic and music.