Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Life of Pi set to take to the stage at Aberdeen’s His Majesty’s Theatre

The stage adaptation of the famed novel is set for Aberdeen

The cast of Life of Pi which is headed for Aberdeen. Supplied by Johan Persson,
The cast of Life of Pi which is headed for Aberdeen. Supplied by Johan Persson,

“You can call me a puppeteer – but I would say that puppetry is acting,” says Romina Hytten, when asked whether she describes herself as an actor or a puppeteer.

She’s talking about her unique and ground-breaking job as one of the group of seven performers who bring the talking Bengal tiger Richard Parker to life in the stage adaptation of Yann Martel’s famed 2001 novel Life of Pi.

Already filmed to Academy Award-winning success by Ang Lee in 2012, playwright Lolita Chakrabarti’s new theatrical version opened at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre in 2019, before transferring to the West End in 2021, where Hytten joined the cast.

She’s remained for the current, extensive UK tour, but it was in London that Richard Parker shared performance made history.

Divesh Subaskaran plays Pi in the Life of Pi.. Supplied by Credit: Johan Persson.

Life of Pi is a ‘feast for the eyes’

“It’s a feast for the eyes, a beautiful, visually stunning production,” she says of the show. “It blows you away, hopefully it’ll leave you thinking about it for several days afterwards. Pi goes on an incredibly moving journey, it’s a story of survival, grief, faith, family and love, as well as being an amazing puppetry show.”

In bringing to life Richard Parker, the companion of a young Indian shipwreck survivor named Pi, the performers who play him were jointly awarded the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2022.  “That was a groundbreaking moment for puppetry,” says Hytten.

“It felt so much bigger than us, we were winning it for all puppeteers and to hopefully allow for more main characters as puppets in theatre.”

She explains more about the role: “Our bodies are an extension of the puppet. You can see us, we’re not in full black clothing, but through our puppetry skills we tell the audience to not look at us and look at the puppet. It takes an incredible amount of focus, and because we rotate puppeteers, everyone has a different energy. A lot of technique and choreography is involved, but imagination is a really big part of it. It’s a fun, challenging, ever-changing role.”

Until Richard Parker, the National Theatre’s 2007 stage version of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse was the benchmark in theatrical puppetry. “That was the first big show that really flew with main characters as puppets,” says Hytten.

“It’s definitely grown since then, you see it a lot more in theatre and you see more actors training in puppetry at drama schools and in workshops and courses.

Romina Hytten who performs in Life of Pi.  Supplied by APA/Life of Pi.

Romina wanted to be a performer from a young age

“That’s really exciting, because it’s a special art form, and something very unique to theatre. CGI in films is incredible, but watching something coming to life in front of you is magical. When you think, I can see there are three actors there holding an object, but actually, what I believe I see is a tiger, that’s an amazing thing.”

Just as some might view puppetry as an unconventional form of acting, so was Hytten’s route into the industry. She knew she wanted to be a performer at the age of 11, so she joined the Chichester Festival Youth Theatre, where she learned the craft and first tried out puppetry.

Although she auditioned for drama school, she says that “didn’t work out for me”, but at the age of 18 she still picked up her first professional credit straight from youth theatre.

“That kickstarted things, and my career just kept on going,” she says. “I learned on the job, which has been a real privilege, and the puppetry world is quite small so a lot of it is word of mouth. I’ve been doing it now for nine years.”

Life of Pi is headed to Aberdeen Picture shows; Supplied by  Johan Persson.

When is Life of Pi in Aberdeen?

Most of her work since has been in puppetry ensemble and physical theatre shows, with Life of Pi as her first (shared) West End role. “It wasn’t the normal way in,” says Hytten. “Most people get into puppetry by training as an actor at drama school, then finding puppetry and falling in love with it – because you do have to fall in love with it. It comes with lots of physical challenges, it can be painful, you’re in uncomfortable positions, so you have to really love the art form to be able to do it.

“I would always advise a performer to train in puppetry, though, especially if you love ensemble work and physical performance, as it helps you become a better actor. I’ve taught lots of puppetry workshops with families and schools, and it’s a joy to see kids play. As children we would all bring our toys to life and make them talk and move, and puppetry is just doing that in a more highly-skilled way.”

Life of Pi is at His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen, from Tuesday January 30 to Saturday  February 3. For more information go to aberdeenperformingarts.com, lifeofpionstage.com.

The stage show is an adaptation of the famed novel.. Supplied by Credit: Johan Persson Date; Unknown

 

 

.