The Survival Instinct

Theatre director Bijon Mondal entertains kids with Pi, the first Indian stage production based on author Yann Martel’s Life of Pi

Kids can now get some serious lessons about life, albeit in a humourous tone, in Bijon Mondal’s latest play Pi. Based on author Yann Martel’s award-winning novel, Life of Pi, the play is a fantasy adventure that revolves around the experiences of a Piscine Molitor Patel better known as Pi, an Indian boy from Pondicherry. His family decides to move to Canada after selling the animals in their zoo. But things go wrong after a terrible storm. Pi is left stranded with a tiger, a hyena, an orangutan and a zebra on a life boat. How Pi survives the ordeal forms the crux of the play.

The idea of making a play on the novel struck Bijon few years ago after he read the book. He was not only impressed with the philosophy but also the book’s visual appeal. “Life of Pi gives out the message that you should love nature, human beings and animals. It also has several scenes which can be interpreted in a visually creative way in a play.”

He later asked his friend to adapt the novel into a play. Pi opened last year but Bijon was not satisfied with the end result. Earlier this year, he roped in another friend, Neha Singh, to adapt the novel in a crisper format to entertain kids. The biggest challenge that he faced was to convert the novel into a children’s play. “Life Of Pi is an adult novel. We had to simplify the concept and adapt it in such a way so that kids could understand it.”

It was quite a challenging task for Neha who was adapting a play from a book for the first time. “The novel is quite lengthy. So I could not include all the scenes as the play would have become long. Moreover, children have a short attention span. So I selected those parts that were most appropriate for kids yet retained the story’s essence. I tried to convey the book’s theme in a shorter yet effective way.”

Neha also added a lot of humour in the play and focussed on reducing the complexity but maintaining the story’s simplicity. She started off by reading the book twice. After a fortnight, she kept the book aside and tried to recall those parts that had left an imprint on her mind. She decided to retain those scenes in the play. She initially wrote only the scenes and later included the dialogues.

Once the adaptation was ready, it was time for Bijon to recreate the book’s visual appeal. He started off by instructing his designer to create a boat that could be used for the storm as well as the dream sequences along with a lot of lighting effects. Mumbai-based band, Translucent, was roped in to score the background score and compose a few songs for the play. “We wanted Pi to be a visual treat for kids,” he says.

He also instructed 19-year-old Upen Shukla, to portray the 13-year-old Pi convincingly and interact with the animals in a certain way. “I started observing the body language and mannerisms of boys of that age. I also used a lot of imagination to perceive how a boy would react when he is stuck with a tiger, hyena, zebra and an orangutan,” Upen explains. Finally after rehearsing for almost two months, Upen was ready to play Pi.

The team is happy with the way the play has shaped up. Pi which was staged recently at Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai has garnered a good response from kids. “Pi is being liked by kids and adults alike. In fact, a lot of children came to see the play for a second time after enjoying it the first time around,” signs off Neha.