Life of Pi moves West End start date to November

Life of Pi has confirmed new dates for its rescheduled West End run.

The play is based on the Man Booker-winning novel of the same name, written by Yann Martel, which is about what happens when a cargo ship sinks in the Pacific Ocean and the only survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, a 16 year-old boy and a Bengal tiger – are stranded together on a lifeboat.

In early 2020, the Sheffield Theatres production won the WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Play – the first time a piece of new writing outside of the capital has picked up the prize.

The show is adapted from Martel's book by Lolita Chakrabarti and directed by Max Webster. Tim Hatley and Finn Caldwell of Gyre and Gimble alongside Nick Barnes create the puppet designs. The production has lighting by Tim Lutkin, composition by Andrew Mackay, sound by Carolyn Downing, video by Andrzej Goulding and original casting by Polly Jerrold.

WhatsOnStage critic Ron Simpson described the production as "a spectacular on-stage experience".

The Wyndham's Theatre will be specially reconfigured for the show, with venue owner Cameron Mackintosh saying last autumn: "The production team's approach to the material has been mirrored by their innovative reinvention of the Wyndham's auditorium, rejigging levels and extending the stage over the stalls so that the floor and walls of the theatre become one complete surreal environment, that I think will be even more intense than before. Audiences are in for a Pi-flying ride into their imagination!"

The show will now open in previews on 14 November 2021, at the Wyndham's Theatre.