Puppets in Life of Pi bring unique theatrical experience to Denver Center for the Performing Arts

CBS News

17-03-2025

On Tuesday night Life of Pi will take the stage at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, marking the first time the show has made a stop at the Buell Theatre. The play, which is based on the original book, brings to life exotic animal characters through puppets.
"Our puppets are best-supporting actors. They are truly fleshed-out characters in the show," said Jon Hoche, one of the tour's directors.
The show follows the journey of a teenage boy fleeing India due to political unrest. Coming from a family that runs a zoo, the boy is on a boat that crashes. He is forced to get onto a lifeboat that is also occupied by several exotic animals.
While the movie Life of Pi is able to use animation to bring those animals to life, the play has to use puppets to bring the characters to audiences.
"There's something about playing a live animal that you have to be so tapped in to make him look like a live tiger," said Shiloh Goodin, puppeteer for the tour.
While some may think of generic puppets operated just by a hand, the puppets used on stage bring a sense of life to the animals.
The Bengal tiger in the show, known as "Richard Parker," is a puppet that is operated by three different people at once.
"You really have to have an art of listening to your teammates. I'm listening to the breath, the footfalls. Really for any micro-movements in the tiger," said Anna Leigh Gortner, one of the puppeteers. "Otherwise, I wouldn't look in the sink. To keep it alive I have to be listening and in tune, and feeling through my body how I can connect through the tiger."
When audiences first see the puppets it is somewhat easy to notice the humans operating them. However, as the show continues and you immerse yourself in the story, quickly the puppets seem to take on a life of their own and the puppeteers are easy to overlook.
"It is just an engine of imagination," said Taha Mandviwala, lead actor in the show.
Each night Mandviwala can be seen on stage, at many times interacting with nothing else on stage other than the puppets.
"Interacting with a puppet is very similar to interacting with an actor, Mandviwala said. "An actor has its own thoughts, its own intentions, its own obstacles and reactions."
Mandviwala said it is a fun challenge to convince himself he is interacting with real exotic animals so that the audience has the same level of immersion.
"I'm really trying to view the puppet with the respect, the life, the weight and physics it deserves. And, the danger they deserve. This is not a Disney-fied relationship."
Toussaint Jeanlouis, one of the three puppeteers for Richard Parker, said he enjoys how the puppet challenges him each night to be one with his peers.
"I feel like I'm a lot stronger for it, physically and mentally. And, it is fun," Jeanlouis said.
The DCPA welcomes Life of Pi from March 18 through March 30. For more information on
Life of Pi tickets visit the Denver Center online
.
CBS Colorado is a proud partner of the DCPA.