Production Images images for - Life of Pi which opens at Sheffield Theatres on 8 July - have been revealed. Directed by Max Webster and adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti, it follows the five survivors stranded on a single lifeboat, after a cargo ship sinks in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean.
A hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, a sixteen year-old boy and a hungry Bengal tiger. Time is against them, nature is harsh, who will survive?
Based on one of the most extraordinary and best-loved works of fiction – winner of the Man Booker Prize, selling over fifteen million copies worldwide – Life of Pi is a dazzling new theatrical adaptation of an epic journey of endurance and hope. A film of the book, adapted by Ang Lee, was released in 2012.
Joining the previously announced co-production with Out of Joint – Kate Bowen’s Close Quarters; the Christmas musical Kiss Me, Kate directed by Paul Foster; Caroline Steinbeis’ production of Rutherford and Son; debbie tucker green’s hang and the world première of Standing at the Sky’s Edge with book by Chris Bush and music and lyrics by the internationally acclaimed musician Richard Hawley; are the world première of a major new stage adaptation of Yann Martel’s Man Booker Prize winning Life of Pi by Lolita Chakrabarti, directed by Max Webster; and Third Angel’s The Department of Distractions – a co-production with Northern Stage, produced in association with Sheffield Theatres.
Also announced today is a new initiative - Sheffield People’s Theatre Residency Season, where members of the local community will have the opportunity to hone their theatre making skills working with some of the leading theatre companies in the UK, culminating with a sharing on the theatre’s stages.
Robert Hastie said today, “When I first read Life of Pi, back when everyone was telling each other to read this wonderful new book, I remember thinking that it could make for an awesome piece of theatre if someone had the ambition and imagination to bring it to the stage. Max Webster, Lolita Chakrabarti and Finn Caldwell of Gyre and Gimble are those brave and brilliant people, and I’m absolutely thrilled that we have such an ambitious and exciting team joining us to realise this epic story.
Alongside new writing, the city of Sheffield also sits at the heart of the next season. Sheffield’s history is powerfully brought to life through the writing of Sheffield-born Chris Bush and the music of Sheffield icon Richard Hawley in Standing at the Sky’s Edge; Third Angel, one of the city’s finest theatre companies, bring their brilliant Department of Distractions to the Studio; and Sheffield People’s Theatre embarks on a new chapter in its development with three fantastic residencies. “
CRUCIBLE
A Sheffield Theatres Production
World Première
LIFE OF PI
Based on the novel by Yann Martel
Adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti
Director Max Webster; Designer: Tim Hatley; Puppet Designer: Finn Caudwell of Gyre and Gimble
28 June – 20 July 2019
Press night 8 July at 7.15pm
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 hungry Bengal tiger. Time is against them, nature is harsh, who will survive?
Based on one of the most extraordinary and best-loved works of fiction – winner of the Man Booker Prize, selling over fifteen million copies worldwide – Life of Pi is a dazzling new theatrical adaptation of an epic journey of endurance and hope. A film of the book, adapted by Ang Lee, was released in 2012.
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).
Lolita Chakrabarti is an award-winning actress and playwright. Her writing credits include Red Velvet which opened at the Tricycle Theatre in London in 2012 before returning there in 2014, transferring to New York and the West End. Red Velvet was nominated for nine major awards including two Oliviers. She won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright , the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright and the AWA Award for Arts and Culture. She also wrote The Goddess for Woman's Hour BBC Radio 4 and Last Seen Joy for the Almeida. She recently curated and wrote for The Greatest Wealth, a salute to the NHS on its 70th birthday, at The Old Vic. She produced Of Mary, a short film directed by Adrian Lester which won Best Short Film at PAFF, Los Angeles in 2012.
Max Webster was the inaugural Baylis Director at the Old Vic and is now an Associate Director at the theatre where his work includes Fanny and Alexander, Cover My Tracks and Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax. His other stage work includes the forthcoming The Merry Widow (ENO), The Jungle Book (Northampton/Fiery Angel UK tour), The Winter’s Tale (Lyceum, Edinburgh), King Lear (Royal & Derngate, Northampton/UK tour), Mary Stuart (PARCO Productions, Tokyo), The Twits (Leicester Curve/UK tour), Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare’s Globe/International Tour), Orlando, To Kill a Mockingbird, My Young and Foolish Heart (Royal Exchange Manchester), Shostakovich’s Hamlet
(City of London Symphonia), James and the Giant Peach, My Generation (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Twelfth Night (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Anna Karenina (Arcola Theatre), The Chalk Circle (Aarohan Theatre, Nepal), Carnival Under the Rainbow and Feast Kakulu (Hilton Arts Festival, South Africa).
STUDIO
Third Angel presents
THE DEPARTMENT OF DISTRACTIONS
A co-production with Northern Stage in association with Sheffield Theatres
25 January – 2 February
The Department of Distractions: you see their work - but you never see them. They say their job is to plant stories in the world ‘to make life more interesting’: a single glove in the street; a torn up love letter in a Metro carriage; a phone box that rings as you walk past. Snags in the fabric of everyday life that make you think, what’s going on there…?
But things are starting to unravel. A story they started has got out of hand. How far will they go to maintain their anonymity? Third Angel brings you a conspiracy-theory documentary-exposé detective story for the 21st century that asks: what aren’t you looking at?
SHEFFIELD PEOPLE’S THEATRE RESIDENCY SEASON
There are three brilliant opportunities for local communities to take part in Sheffield People’s Theatre Residency Season. Over the last six years over 500 people, aged between 12 and 90 years old, have taken part in Sheffield People’s Theatre. SPT has established a reputation for creating outstanding work for Sheffield’s stages and its streets working with acclaimed artists and companies including Chris Bush and Slung Low. This year the company’s work will be focused on three, week-long residencies with some of the most exciting and creative theatre companies in the country:
Frantic Assembly, known for their bold and distinctly physical approach to theatre making;
Barrel Organ, who work collaboratively to create politically engaged theatre and
Showstoppers, who use improvisation to explore narrative and musical forms.
Sheffield Theatres will be seeking participants from across the city region to be part of this programme.
More information about the residencies and how to audition can be found at www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/get-involved or by emailing spt@sheffieldtheatres.co.uk.
Sheffield Theatres Listings
Crucible Lyceum Studio 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, S1 1DA
Box Office 0114 249 6000 – Mon – Sat 10.00am to 8.00pm
On non-performance days the Box Office closes at 6.00pm.
www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk
STEEL
Until 6 October 2018
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
Until 20 October 2018
CLOSE QUARTERS
25 October – 10 November 2018
Press night: 29 October, 7.45pm
KISS ME, KATE
7 December 2018 – 12 January 2019
Press night: 12 December, 7pm
THE DEPARTMENT OF DISTRACTIONS
25 January – 2 February
RUTHERFORD AND SON
8 – 23 February 2019
Press night: 12 February, 7pm
HANG
21 February – 9 March 2019
Press night: 26 February, 7.45pm
STANDING AT THE SKY’S EDGE
15 March – 6 April
Press night: 20 March, 7pm
LIFE OF PI
28 June – 20 July 2019
Press night 8 July, 7.15pm
West End:
EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE
Apollo Theatre
Booking until 6 April 2019
